2024 Wrap-Up
Here's what I worked on this year, and where you can enjoy it!
Hello readers! I hope your holiday season has been cozy and bright. I’m at home in Arkansas for the first holiday in three years, trying my best to allow myself to rest and not do too much work. But, if writing this substack counts, I’m failing!
If you’re following this publication, maybe you like to watch me act in things - that is, of course, my primary pursuit. So in case you’ve missed anything this year, here is what I’ve been in and where you can enjoy it.
The Case of the Greater Gatsby - If you are a fan of fiction podcasts, you’re in luck! I’ve been in many over the years (Wolf 359, Unseen, Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye), and I just finished releasing the first fiction audio narrative that I’ve produced (outside of my Anne Shirley series, which I’ll talk about in a bit). The Case of the Greater Gatsby is Shipwrecked Comedy’s first (and probably if we’re being honest, only) foray into audio storytelling. It picks up where our “short” film The Case of the Gilded Lily left off - following detective duo Fig Wineshine (Sinéad Persaud) and Ford Phillips (Sean Persaud) as they investigate the murder of author-turned screenwriter F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1940s Hollywood. I play Vivian Nightingale, femme fetale lounge singer and one of Fitzgerald’s lovers. The show features a few original songs, written by Dylan Glatthorn and sung by me, and a cast the likes of which you’ve never heard before, like Matt Mercer (Critical Role, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom), Carlos Alazraqui (Rocko’s Modern Life, The Fairly Oddparents), Lesli Margherita (Gypsy and Matilda on Broadway), Joanna Sotomura (Sunny), and many, many more. It weaves real historical events and characters - Fitzgerald was actually in Hollywood pursuing screenwriting at the time of his death - with fiction and fun. It’s dense, it’s noir-y, it’s ridiculous, and it plays with the form in a way that I think is very fun - but I’m biased! If you need eight-ish hours of comedic mystery that your ears can consume, you can listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And of course, please leave us a rating and review. We aren’t planning on doing more, but we have been playing with this idea for seven years now and have worked incredibly hard on it for the last two and a half years, and we’d love for it to find a bigger audience.
Anne of the Island - I’ve been putting out my series of audiobooks/radio plays of the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery for the last few years (Anne of Green Gables on Spotify and Apple Podcasts; Anne of Avonlea on Spotify and Apple Podcasts), and I decided it was time to release my third and final book, Anne of the Island. I originally made these for my Patreon, and for many years I didn’t plan on sharing them outside of there, but they’d become so popular and when I decided to close down my Patreon earlier this year, I felt that it was important that this project not get lost in the vaults of what once was. There are currently 25 of 41 chapters released for free, or you can sign up on Patreon to hear the rest of the book now (or to get ad-free, early access episodes). Putting this series together has been one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done. I never imagined when I first started them just how important Anne’s story would become to me, and how close to her as a character I’d feel. I’m so glad they’ve resonated with so many people!
Spies Are Forever: Live Film to Concert Experience - In the spring I got to revisit one of my favorite projects of the past decade, the Tin Can Brothers’ spy musical Spies Are Forever, when we did a screening/concert mashup in LA at the El Portal theatre. The performance had us singing songs from the original musical as clips from the 2016 recording played in between, and it brought some new (old) friends into the fold, like Carlos Alazraqui and Tom Lenk. If you missed it and you’d like to enjoy it, you can still purchase a digital ticket!
The Pelican New Musical Workshop at Musical Theatre West - In November I had the great pleasure of performing in a workshop of my friend Dylan Glatthorn’s new musical, The Pelican, as a part of Musical Theatre West’s New Works Reading Festival. I loved being a part of this show and learning incredible new music, and performing with old USC friends Natalie Storrs and Emily Goglia and new friends like Friday Night Lights’ Scott Porter. You can’t see the performance anywhere, but you can listen to the music here, including my demo of “Peace of Mind,” one of the songs I sang in the show.
I also worked on some other things this year, like understudying four different roles in Team Starkid’s musical Cinderella’s Castle, a bachelorette thriller film currently titled Bride or Die, and I’m still waiting on an audio project I recorded in 2023 to release that I’m sworn to secrecy on. So stay tuned for more things in the future if stuff I’m in is your jam! And there are always old favorites to enjoy, like Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, or Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story, to name a few.
As always, thanks for being here. Wishing you a very wonderful last few hours of 2024 and hoping for a very bright 2025 for us all!
Thanks for reading! Wanna support me even more? Here are some ways.
Want more one-on-one time with me? You can sign up for Office Hours via my website if you’d like help launching a crowdfunding campaign, advice on your acting dreams, or just to chat. Or grab a cameo from me if you’d like to wish a friend happy birthday, or whatever!
Check out my group Shipwrecked Comedy. We’ve made a lot of shows, shorts, and series you might enjoy, and you can be a part of our club on Patreon.
I’m a big fan of Primal Kitchen - they make sauces, dressings, and oils from real ingredients and as far as I know, everything they make is gluten free. I especially love their buffalo sauce! My code MKWILES gets you a 10% discount.
Like comfy shirts that pay homage to your favorite tv shows and movies? Homage is one of my favorite places for gifts for myself and others. Their “There’s No Crying in Baseball” shirt is one of my favorite of all time. I’m wearing it right now.