Some News, an Anniversary, and Mystery People
Dear Mister Ward to be featured on a BBC podcast and 2 years since Dear Mister Ward Live!
It’s hard to believe but it has now been almost 2 years since Dear Mister Ward Live made its debut at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls, Mass.
I meant to celebrate the anniversary last year but life was a little hectic at the time. So, I figured a 2nd anniversary is almost as good. So, in honor of the 2nd anniversary you will find some clips from the performance at the end of this post.
But before then I have some exciting news.
I recently recorded an interview for a BBC podcast called Short Cuts about Dear Mister Ward. I was contacted by a freelance journalist who had come across the project and pitched it to the podcast. The episode will be coming out pretty soon and I will of course share a link when it does.
The episode will feature some of the same actors reading letters who took part in the live performances as well as some new voices. Those will be mixed together with my ramblings and maybe some fun found sound to create a really unique take on the project.
Because this podcast is based in the UK I realized it was time for me to make it easier to order copies of the book from outside the US. That’s going to involve a few changes to the store. So, this is really truly the last call for the final 8 copies of the 1st edition. In about two weeks I’m going to take whatever copies are still left down from the site. All copies after that will be going straight from the printer until further notice so I won’t be able to sign them if that matters to you. So if you feel like grabbing a copy (or 8) you can do so here.
Anyway, enough about that. These performances are of letters written by people about whom I have not been able to find any information.
The first is attributed to Fred Hinz of “Minto, South Dakota” but the problem is there is not Minto, South Dakota so I assumed my grandma copied it over incorrectly and that it should be Minto, North Dakota or maybe Minot, North Dakota but I haven’t had much luck finding a Fred Hinz in either place. More importantly has anyone ever heard the term “tighter than Hiram’s Sunday collar“ before? Because I can’t find any reference to it.
The second letter is attributed to Peter Paines but I have no more information than that.
The third is attributed to Mrs. Eric Akron. I thought I had found Mr Eric Akron but the dates don’t make sense for anyone in the family. So, I don’t think I’ve found the right person.
The final letter is signed Billie Hall which is not much to go on.
I hope you enjoy these performances as much as I still do.
Thanks for following along on this project for all this time.
If the video isn’t loading in your email you can view the post in a browser by here:
https://dearmisterward.substack.com/p/some-news-an-anniversary-and-mystery