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Tonight, on PBS Kids! Watch for me -- well, listen for me -- as historical figure Branch Ricky in the Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum episode titled "I Am Jackie Robinson." This was a particularly satisfying job. It was just a few minutes spent in a recording studio to lay down the few lines for the scene - a tender, sincere scene between America's first Black baseball celebrity and the manager who enlisted him. Branch Ricky -- that's me -- had the bravery, the foresight, the decency and the compassion to buck the racism of those days. He had to warn young Jackie about the difficult times that were likely ahead, and encourage him to jump in and join the team anyway. Jackie Robinson was a hero. Branch Ricky was the visionary who paved the way. Xavier Riddle, the series, has an ingenious central premise: Xavier and his friends travel through time to meet famous people from history, and to learn. (Think Bill & Ted recruiting Beethoven, etc.) But Xavier and his pals are much younger. Elementary school-age. And here's the best wrinkle of all: they meet all those famous people when those people were themselves still kids. Eight-year-old Einstein and such. Each episode is devoted to another important person. Catch the show online! PBS Kids. (Warning: this perhaps not available in Canada yet.) 
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Could not have had a more pleasant and rewarding time! I loved working on this music video earlier this spring, with my talented friends. Anne Douris conceived the whole thing, then designed it, built everything, and directed. Adam Crosby lit and shot. Alexander Mantia and myself were the puppeteers. All this, for a lovely new song by Nixon Boyd. Check it out at the link below:w.youtube.com/watch?v=3sNyxryLHuM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sNyxryLHuM Very pleased that Barry Cook, Andrew Sabiston and myself have completed a second draft of our play ‘Sixteen Saturdays’. Thanks too for the suggestions we received from some of our colleagues. Even more exciting was that Michael Shamata – AD of the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, BC –recently hosted a development workshop, with our friend and renowned director Glynis Leyshon leading. We can’t thank Michael and Glynis enough. Thanks as well to the Belfry’s Valerie Houle for producing, and the workshop’s exceptional cast – Tony Adams, Elijah Bell, Amanda Lisman, RJ Peters, Barbara Poggemiller, David Radford and Celine Stubel – for giving our words life and offering us their insightful reactions to the characters they played. And, as a special treat, actress Margaret Martin – who is represented in a big way in the play – attended with her son and daughter. Andrew was able to attend the workshop, while Barry and I Zoomed in from clear across the country! We’re eager to incorporate what we learned from this workshop into a third draft and see what lies ahead! Now that the episode has aired, the cat is out of the bag! Catch my appearance as Professor Aldous Hardy in Murdoch and the Treasure of Lima, now playing wherever fine Murdochs are streamed. Here's some costume and make-up tests, and by the way - it's a known fact that moms like to see their kids on TV! Back in the recording studio today, for another episode of Elinor Wonders Why - a cute-as-all-heck animated series for pre-schoolers, with gentle science lessons taught in a beautiful water-colour nature setting. Check it out on PBS. The mains are kids, voicing the young, curious animal characters who drive the questions and the stories of each episode. I play Mr. Beaver - one of the recurring, older characters of the show. And today! My first job of the year! 2024 is going to be a good one!!  You know who that is? No, not that guy. The other guy! That's Ian Ho, voice actor and star of the Xavier Riddle series. That other guy there, that's me. And here we are at Pirate Sound, recording a new episode of Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, Ian as Xavier, me as Branch Rickey - historical figure and prominent baseball coach in the 1920s.
(You'll note that someone has stollen the R from Pirate - as in "the RRRRRR from Pirate.") Back as Mr. Beaver, that is. Elinor Wonders Why has been getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason! It's a charming pre-school science show that's cute, funny, and very well animated. I have the good fortune of performing as the voice of a recurring character - Mr. Beaver. It's been four long years since my last session, but today we laid down another episode, coming soon to PBS Kids! Click through ... look closer and closer ... I had to have it! This was the poster hanging on the front of the Royal George in NOTL for the 60th Season of Shaw Festival Theatre. 2022 was also my 60th year, so there's that. But what really tickles my pinkie here is the fact that my name is not only spelled correctly, it's the same size and font as the other playwrights listed. Check out those names, would ya! Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde ... and me! (With my co-writer Alexandra Montagnese.) Our little puppet show that could -- A Short History of Niagara -- is already on the roster for a remount this coming summer '23. Like I say - had to have it! Sad to say goodbye to an absolutely perfect summer experience, performing a puppet show at Historic Fort George, and then in the vintage Courthouse in downtown Niagara on the Lake, and finally here - a heritage homestead in St. Catherines. We were lucky to save the best for last!! Thank you, Shaw Festival, Fort George, and Brown Homestead ... we shall return! Now in production, from the mind of Matt Ficner -- master of the creepy and the weird -- a new puppet series, coming soon!!   |
