The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society

It’s the exciting conclusion to the Thrillogy LIVE! In Part 3: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, we find out who has been causing all this chaos in Massalia. But how can Zinnia win when she has to fight... herself? This episode was recorded in front of an audience at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater in Mesa, AZ.

It’s the Thrillogy performed LIVE! In Part 2: The Three Sisters, our Ladies discover a group of shady individuals want to get people investing in crime. Will Saffron’s way with words be enough to save the day? It’s one of our favorite adventures performed in a whole new ways. This episode was recorded in front of an audience at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater in Mesa, AZ.

It’s the Thrillogy performed LIVE! In Part 1: Sword Swinging and Elocution, the Ladies find out that another group of crime-fighting women have moved into town, but they seem more inclined to do crime than fight it. It’s one of our favorite classic tales told in a whole new way. This episode was recorded in front of an audience at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater in Mesa, AZ.

“Belle of the Ball - Live!” For the first time ever, the cast of The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society are in the same room together to record a live episode! Viviana is attending her first masquerade ball. But when she meets the Ladies for the first time, she begins to suspect there’s something strange going on. Recorded live at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater in Mesa, AZ.

In this behind the scenes episode of Swashbuckling Ladies, our show creator gives us a peek behind the curtain to discuss the complexities of making an audio drama show and upcoming changes to the episodes.

Today’s adventure: “Words, Actions and Intent” was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that irresistible force Ryan FitzPatrick. Our talent wrangler is that unmovable object known as Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, Shelly Trujillo as Bella, Valerie Meiss as Jolan, Kathleen Anne as Reka and Krissy Lenz as Lady Voss. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.

Season 4, Episode 5: “At The Level Of Your Eyes” was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that siren of the stage Ryan FitzPatrick. Our talent wrangler is that warbling songbird known as Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, and Mandy Kaplan as Diable. The original song, My One And Only featured lyrics by Kyle Olson and orchestrations by Hedley Knights, who also made our theme song. Our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.

Season 4, Episode 4: “My Life Is Like Broken Glass” was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that host with the most Ryan FitzPatrick. Our talent wrangler is that life of the party known as Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, Shelly Trujillo as Bella, Krissy Lenz as Lady Voss and Christopher Soucy & Justin Kent as George & Marshall. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.

Season 4, Episode 3: “Could Have Missed The Pain” was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that heart stopping hoofer Ryan FitzPatrick. Our toe tapping talent wrangler is Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, Shelly Trujillo as Bella, Dolores Mendoza as Adassa, Justin Kent as Thomas and Krissy Lenz as Lady Voss. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.

Season Four, Episode Two: “Straddle The Line In Discord And Rhyme” was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that daydream believer Ryan FitzPatrick. Enjoying a pleasant valley Sunday is our talent wrangler Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, Shelly Trujillo as Bella, Puneet Bajwa as Carmin Crimson and Krissy Lenz as Lady Voss. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.

Season Four, Episode One: “Don’t Know If I’m Ever Coming Home” was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that daydream believer Ryan FitzPatrick. Enjoying a pleasant valley Sunday is our talent wrangler Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, Shelly Trujillo as Bella, and Krissy Lenz as Lady Voss. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is an Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas

The Swashbuckling Ladies are back for season 4. They wanted to head out on a trip, but something keeps holding them back. What will be the breaking point? Our Season Four Prelude: “Love Me, And Mend”, was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is Ryan FitzPatrick. Our talent wrangler is Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, and Kara Gallo as Goldie. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.

Author’s Notes For the never-to-be-performed live show (what became the Valentine’s trilogy), I needed someone from outside the circle to be delivering supplies to them, so I could set up that there was a second Zinnia out there. I have a couple of actors who are easy to get ahold of and can turn in quality voice recordings in a timely manner. Krissy is on that very short list. She’s crazy busy with her own team but still manages to squeeze me in. It’s a little-to-nothing role, so I said just give me something fun. She came back with this Edie McClurg voice out of nowhere that so delighted me that I had to put her in. And that was that. Or so I thought. When the time came to do the Mini Series, I started thinking about Mrs. Du Mer. How did she come to be in Massalia? When did she meet the Ladies? And what would make her an interesting lead? The concept I came up with and pitched to Krissy was: imagine Harley Quinn at 60 years old. And Dolores is a rock star. She had just been a jilted Russian, she’s got a major role for us on the horizon, so I was sort of keeping her in reserve until that point. But the more Viviana developed, the more I knew I needed a seasoned pro to hold her own against Krissy. Luckily she was able to squeeze it in before she stepped up to the director’s chair for a theater group. The recording session was one of the best I’ve ever been involved in. The rehearsal had the hairs on my arms standing up! Afterward, I realized I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to these characters just yet. There’s more of their story yet to be told. Oh, and the title? Of course, it’s from Moana. Lin-Manuel, the heir apparent to Howard Ashman in the Disney legacy. A heroine who chooses compassion instead of battle? That’s a very Swashbuckling ideal that we connect with.

Author’s Notes And so we learn a bit more about our two heroines. I don’t know if I’m good at these scenes, but in watching the structure of most western narratives, there seems always to be this type of scene. In a quiet moment, people lay out their origin stories to each other. Even in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, they almost go around the room (well, bus) and do it. It seems so inelegant to me, but the genre demanded it! I hope it works. I originally had Mr. Du Mer as being “my old Mister,” and it almost stayed that way because of a very funny exchange that happened in Part 2. But that darling had to be killed to make for a richer character. Once Ursula was free, healing, and starting her new life, the last thing she expected was love, and suddenly, she stumbled right into it. I didn’t want to imply that he “fixed” her or that their love is what made her whole. She had remade herself the way she wanted, and he fell in love with that person. Don’t know if that came across, but that was my intention. The odd boom of sea shanties on the internet in 2020 (which I adored) led me to discover a band called The Longest Johns, who had been doing sailing songs for years before it became trendy. I promptly bought everything they had ever recorded and in doing so, found one of my all-time favorite songs. It’s called Ashes, and the title of this episode comes from it. You should listen to it and then throw your money at them because they are amazing.

Author’s Notes This is a scene I always wanted to do but never found a place in the first three seasons. Saffron and Zinnia like to tell stories, but they are focused on the future, so I don’t think they’d have a giant penny or robot dinosaur that they’d spend a lot of time restoring. But maybe someone else would. It also gives me a chance to connect back to some earlier stories, reach out to some future stories and challenge myself to come up with some odd bits that would inspire me to tell that particular tale. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which is which. I knew Goldie wouldn’t leave the building undefended, and it just made sense to me that she’d enlist Ursula to come up with some ideas. Zinnia would rather fight them face to face, and Saffron would more likely try to capture them so she could talk them down. Goldie, and Ursula, know that some people only learn the hard way. The title is from one of the greatest lyricists of my lifetime, the late great Howard Ashman, from The Little Mermaid. Kara’s line reading of it was supposed to be a joke just for me, but I was so delighted by it that I used it in the episode without her knowing. Guess she knows now!

Author’s Notes And so we meet Preston, and our cast is complete. I’m always interested in the idea of the person we appear as to others, the person we pretend to be, and the person we reveal ourselves to be. And, of course, those who change their demeanor around someone they feel to be above or below them. You also get to see another side of Ursula here. Yes, she’s that friend’s Mom that you always liked visiting, who’d always have a snack and a drink waiting for you. But she’s also extremely sharp and knows how to play the game better than anyone would suspect. Krissy Lenz refers to Mrs Du Mer as “my Betty White” which is a pretty apt description. But for those who only know Betty from Golden Girls, or even just as a meme, you need to see her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show to see another side of her. I like to think that Ursula is all of these personas, depending on the situation. And the title of this chapter is from the broadcast logs of the Titanic, from early on in her ill-fated voyage. Ursula has spotted their iceberg, but the impact is still on the way.

The Worth Of The Anchor Part 1: "Journey On" The Ladies have asked Ursula Du Mer to look after the Society while they’re away. But a quiet week is soon disrupted by an untimely arrival who brings troubles of her own. Author’s Notes It’s a slow start, I admit. But remember that this is one story in 5 chapters, not 5 completely new episodes. I want you to snuggle in, get to know the new characters, and get an idea of the setting before I really start raising the heat. In the first version of this idea, the All-Rounder was going to be watching over the place. Don’t worry. He’ll show up in the future, and you’ll love him. And we were going to be cutting back and forth through the season of the off-screen adventures he was having. Then I realized it would distract from the main stories of each episode. But the idea kept bouncing around my brain. When the idea of starting a membership came up, I wanted to give you exclusive episodes, but I knew that in the middle of producing a full season, I couldn’t also do another full season with the full cast at the same time! So I needed a smaller story, different characters, and one location. This fit the bill. Oh, and the title’s from one of my favorite songs from the musical Ragtime. It’s early in the show, about voyages (both physical and emotional) and helps introduce the audience to new characters. I’m hoping to draft in their wake.

Just a quick update to let you know what’s happening with Season 4 and what you expect to listen to next...

That Golden Valley, part two, was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that matrimonial minx Ryan FitzPatrick. Our talent wrangler is that open-minded ingenue Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, Devon Mahon as Henry Junior, Tony Blosser as Fausto, Tommy Metz as Henry Senior, Pete Wright as the Priest, and Justin Kent as both Dudley and Quimby. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.

That Golden Valley, part one, was written, directed and edited by Kyle Olson, our Producer and Sound Designer is that bicoastal playboy Ryan FitzPatrick. Our talent wrangler is that star on the rise known as Brooke Underveith. Starring Amy Shaw as Zinnia, Anastasia Plumb as Saffron, Kara Gallo as Goldie, Devon Mahon as Henry Junior, Tony Blosser as Fausto, Mandy Kaplan as Imogen and Esme, Krissy Lenz as Aphid, and Justin Kent as Dudley. Our theme song is written and performed by Hedley Knights and our interstitial music is ‘Intended Force’ by Kevin Macleod. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @OxAndHare so you won’t miss the next thrilling adventure. The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is a Ox and Hare Media production. Old format, new ideas.