Tune in to WRVN!

This 45-minute broadcast played as a loop over the course of each 4-hr production, and was designed to be tuned into starting at any point in the broadcast, so that every guest's journey was unique. But you won't miss anything if you choose to start at the beginning.

Close your eyes as reality unravels into odd dimensions. Imagine your car creeping through the twisted creations of world-class interdisciplinary-artists, with special effects, pyrotechnics, gorey makup, fire spinning, choreographed dancing,  sound & lighting design, sculptures, projection art, custom costumes, murals, woven together by a writing team that thrives on spinning up terrifyingly-realistic satire.

In the days leading up to Halloween, unprecedented electromagnetic storm activity following solar flares wreaks havoc on radio waves, wifi, and lifesaving medical equipment, inspiring the typically-sleepy town of Whitinsville, MA to instate a 9:00pm curfew. As residents attempt to tune in to the news, interference scrambles the signals, channels keep changing, picking up police radio, 911 calls, and what seems like something... stranger.

Officer Clyde Blackwell (Ron Vargas) and Chief Timothy Graves (Jersey Clark) from the Northbridge Police Department are called to investigate the long-vacant Oakhurst Manor in Whitinsville, as residents from Boston to Worcester to Providence (Sam Potter, Betsy Morris, Abel Silva) phone in to the Notably Northbridge Nightly News to report unusual and unnerving bird activity. A local ornithologist, Dr. Jamie Kestrel (Sam Perry), is interviewed by host Sydney Savage (Aleesha Bake) in attempts to quell the worries of listeners, but this quickly backfires with new the arrival of new information that spooks the expert and host alike.

Meanwhile, we catch glimpses of an episode of the audio documentary series, People Magazine Investigates: Cults, in which host Peyton Lane (Trev Allen) matter-of-factly speaks of the sudden and unsolved disappearance of a California cult, The Order of the White Raven, drawing listeners on a deep dive into the twisted mind of cult leader Athena Winter (Victoria Dobbs), through the first-hand reports of one of the cult's anonymous survivors (Serena Lehman), and the insights of an esteemed sociologist and cult expert (Rosie Cochrane).

The local 911-calls intensify as callers (Stina Pham, A Norton, Ron Vargas) report increasingly horrific scenes to the dispatcher (Stuart Ryerse).

What became of The Order of the White Raven? What has gotten into our feathered friends in Massachusetts? And what exactly is going on in Whitinsville's abandoned Oakhurst Manor? 

Tune in now to find out!

Sam Perry (he/him) was the one with the idea, the drive, the vision. When Sam came to us in 2023, he spoke of producing a Halloween drive-through fundraising Haunt or Estate of Mind, with an FM-transmitter, our own radio station people could tune into, and art built all along the est8 grounds to accompany the audio. Sam drove us from this initial concept all the way across the finish line.

When we put out our call for volunteers in the summer of 2023, the very first person to apply was Zenab Ahmed (she/they) who offered to fly out to  the est8 from her home in California to live for 4 months to help co-write a gruesome narrative in her spare time surrounding her doctoral research. She became the head writer of Frightinsville’s audio narrative backstory. This audio drama is a core part of the twisted world building that grew out of Zenab’s grisly imagination and under her creative leadership.

Zenab is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist and activist, and graduate student at SOAS University of London, UK, whose research surrounds controversial topics and morbid themes. As a transgendered Islamic woman living in North America, she has never been able to feel completely comfortable, as she’s been the target of everything from micro-aggressions to being outright shot at for her identity. In response, Zenab excels at creating environments that are deeply unsettling, reminding us that not everyone has the privilege to turn off global news as if it doesn’t impact them. When we are too comfortable, we become complacent to injustice. Zenab is an expert at pressing just the right buttons to address uncomfortable truths, and leave people feeling just uneasy enough to wake up from their waking dreams and recognize real horrors that surround us globally.

The theme starts off light, poking satirical fun at the perception of Estate of Mind (a radical, queer, arts collective) in the context of the rural Massachusetts socio-political landscape. It also touches on the toxic effects of manipulative spiritual leaders, and alludes ever so slightly to other societal injustice, through a series of chilling events that leave listeners grasping to discern whether what they're witnessing is the result of paranormal influence, or the horrors of human psychological manipulation.

Victoria Dobbs (she/her) co-wrote alongside Zenab, organizing everyone's creative ideas, and Zenab's charaters, senes, and dialogue, intro a structure that fit the radio format. Victoria recruited the volunteer voice actors, sent out scripts and direction, and did the final casting. Our voice actors worked so hard, some recording from home, or from overseas, and some came onsite to record in one of Estate of Mind's studios. They were so keen to accept feedback, and re-record any lines we wanted delivered differently. It was a massive feat of coordination to direct everyone asynchronously, but well worth it! See our cast & crew page for more info on our voice actors.

For all the sound design and musical composition, we have Stuart Ryerse (he/him) to thank. Stuart is a Boston-based musician, audio engineer, and juggler. Stuart composed, performed, recorded, mixed, and mastered all the music for Frightinsville in under a week. As guests tuned their car stereo in to Frightinsville’s own FM radio station , they got to hear Stuart cast such skillful sonic spells that it bordered on wizardry.

Stuart began playing piano at age 5, and began scoring his own compositions at age 8. He’s earned his B.M. in Contemporary Improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC). He also plays recorder, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, marimba, and harpsichord, in addition to singing, composing, and songwriting. He is also a recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, piano tuner, music educator and expert in ear training. Everything you hear in the Frightinsville world-building radio broadcast has gone through Stuart’s exceptional ears.

Frightinsville’s theme this year touches on the toxicity of cults, which resonated with Stuart who had to reinvent himself in adulthood, and create a new community for himself, after escaping a traumatic spiritual upbringing, and severing ties with almost everyone he knew. In addition to the sound design & audio editing, Stuart played a critical role in copyediting the dialogue, and directing some of the voice actors. His editing contributions have created a narrative that is absolute chilling in its believability and attention to detail. Listeners may find the ideologies eerily compelling, as they get sucked in to the teachings of a manipulative leader.

I am so excited that Stuart took on this project. His exacting attention to detail and precision has created a universe so realistic, I can’t wait to share it with you.

The radio narrative was just one of the many, many, many wonderful works of art that went into creating Frightinsville. The exacting attention to detail and precision that went into this production created a universe so realistic, yet so surreal, it's too elusive to capture or explain, but we are so excited to be able to share the audio with you.