Press Release
A new Kickstarter has been launched by AudioComics to help fund their latest full-cast audio drama, UTOPIATES. Based on the award winning graphic novel by Josh Finney (Titanium Rain, Star Trek: Enterprise) and Kat Rocha (Giant-Sized Batman #1), the production will star Denise Poirier, the voice and soul of MTV’s Æon Flux. Poirier will voice the Prophet, a shadowy figure who deals in the most illicit of bio-engineered drugs in a futuristic Los Angeles.
WATCH THE PREVIEW: www.kickstarter.com/projects/
“I’m so thrilled about this,” says Poirier “I can already see how I’m going to be able to slip into her skin.” According to author Josh Finney, “It’s Denise’s character who ties the narrative together. She’s a force of nature. When the Prophet enters the scene, people’s lives change forever.”
UTOPIATES follows the lives of four individuals whose paths intersect by way of a drug called utopiates, which is a merging of the words utopia and opiate. The drug’s appeal is that it allows them to inject the memories, dreams, and most importantly, personalities, of others. Every user has his own reasons for seeking this chemical escape, but all learn the price of “soul swapping” is very, very high.
The UTOPIATES audio drama will be a full-cast production of veteran actors, state-of- the-art SFX, and an original score by BBC soundtrack composer, Jonathan Sharp. Also featured will be choice songs from bands Bio-Tek, New Mind, and Slingshot Venus. Helming the project is Audie Award-winning director Bill Dufris.
“Our aim is bring the art form of radio drama into the 21st Century,” says Dufris. “Just like our prior success with Titanium Rain, this will not be another classic radio play of old. Utopiates will have the same immersive depth, effects and intensity we’ve come to expect from a high-budget film.”
If AudioComics is able to meet all its Kickstarter goals, UTOPIATES will be a two part set. The first disc will be an adaptation of Finney & Rocha’s original graphic novel. The second part will offer three entirely new stories set in the UTOPIATES universe. Of these three tales, one will be scripted by Finney, one by an author yet to be announced, and the last and final story will be penned by none other than scifi legend John Shirley. One of the godfathers of the cyberpunk genre, Shirley’s work has been deeply influential. Elements of his novels have found their way into properties such as Dark Angel, Max Headroom, and most notably, The Matrix Trilogy. Likewise, it was Shirley who wrote the screenplay for the The Crow, starring the late Brandon Lee.
Become a part of the UTOPIATES Kickstarter here:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/
Thank you, Broken Frontier, for the shout out!