The Voices of The Lazarus Project: A Cast Interview

Summary

Podcast Summary: I Witness: Silent Night – The Voices of The Lazarus Project: A Cast Interview

Introduction

In the fifth episode of the I Witness podcast, titled "The Voices of The Lazarus Project: A Cast Interview," host Jeff Brown engages in an insightful conversation with members of the cast from the popular audio drama series, Miles and Quinn. Joined by Chris Zimmerman of Red Five Media, who masterminded the Eyewitness Podcast, the episode delves into the cast's experiences, their involvement in the fine arts at Northwest Christian School, and their future aspirations.

Meet the Cast

• Jeff Brown: Superintendent at Northwest Christian School and host of the I Witness podcast.
• Chris Zimmerman: Representative from Red Five Media and the creative force behind the Eyewitness Podcast.
• James Slivero: Plays Genoa and Simon, an alumnus working with the school's tech team.
• Tanner Osborne: Portrays Miles, a senior involved extensively in the school's fine arts.
• Chanel Valdez: Voices Quinn, a sophomore passionate about animation and the NXNW Film Festival.

Involvement in Fine Arts at Northwest Christian School

Jeff Brown opens the discussion by highlighting Tanner and Chanel's significant contributions to the school's fine arts programs.

• Tanner Osborne reflects on his journey:
  "I've pretty much been involved with NCS Productions since freshman year. Really?" [02:08]
  He details his roles in productions like Radium Girls, High School Musical Noises Off, Beauty and the Beast, Clue, Anastasia, and various student films such as Do Gooders, Next Shot, Split Second, and Test Takers.

• Notable Moments:
  Tanner shares memorable lines from Do Gooders and Clue:
  "Let's go save that baby." [03:33]
  This line resonated deeply with Jeff Brown, symbolizing Tanner's dedication.

• Chanel Valdez discusses her passion for animation and contributions to the NXNW Film Festival:
  "I started to do the Crusaders Got Talent when it started in 2020... I could do animation stuff." [05:13]
  Her work in animation not only earned her cash prizes but also fueled her creative expression.

The Recording Process of Eyewitness Podcast

The conversation shifts to the unique process behind creating the Eyewitness audio drama.

• James Slivero explains the recording setup:
  "The way that we recorded it was just one person at a time in this very booth... we were hearing that for the first time along with everybody else." [07:47]
  This method differed from traditional stage performances, emphasizing individual contributions.

• Chanel Valdez adds her perspective:
  "It's pretty similar to what I do for the animations, lines-wise... it's like a bit of choosing in the dark." [09:06]
  She highlights the challenges and excitement of not being able to hear others' performances beforehand.

• Tanner Osborne contrasts podcast recording with stage work:
  "The podcast... we ended up filming the entirety of all of my lines of dialogue in pretty much three hours." [10:16]
  He appreciates the flexibility and the fun, low-commitment nature of the podcast format compared to lengthy stage productions.

Future Aspirations and Career Paths

The episode delves into the cast members' plans post-graduation, revealing a strong inclination towards engineering disciplines.

• Tanner Osborne shares his academic goals:
  "After graduation, my plans are to go to ASU... studying biomedical engineering." [11:56]
  Despite his love for theater, Tanner senses his calling lies in the biomedical field, inspired by his passion for the brain and body.

• Chanel Valdez discusses her ambitions:
  "For now, probably astroengineering at NASA because I think that'd be fun... inspired by Hidden Figures and Martian." [14:34]
  Her interest in the stars and aerospace engineering drives her career aspirations.

• James Slivero reflects on his ongoing role at the school:
  "I work with the tech team, so just helping out with keeping our technology running." [06:58]
  His background in drama and technology showcases his versatile skill set.

Possibility of Future Seasons

Listeners are left pondering the future of Miles and Quinn as the cast expresses their openness to continuing the series.

• Tanner Osborne affirms potential return:
  "I think we're both pretty happy with the experience and we're pretty willing to do it again if it came up." [15:45]

• Chanel Valdez echoes this sentiment:
  "I would definitely like to keep doing it." [15:56]
  Both express a desire to explore more adventures with their characters, leaving room for future installments.

Behind the Scenes: Casting and Voice Work

An interesting anecdote unfolds regarding James Slivero's dual roles in the podcast.

• Chris Zimmerman recounts the casting decision:
  "We tried messing around with pitch and other effects... so we might just keep you as just Genoa." [16:40]
  This led to James taking on the role of Simon, showcasing his versatility.

• James Slivero shares his preparation process:
  "It was mostly just mental practice going over the script and kind of internally envisioning how I was going to do them." [18:03]
  His dedication is further highlighted when he recites the Grinch song:
  "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You really are a heel. You're as cuddly as a cactus, as charming as an eel. Mr. Grinch." [20:05]

Closing Thoughts

Jeff Brown wraps up the interview by acknowledging the cast's talents and their contributions to both the fine arts and the Eyewitness podcast. The episode underscores the synergy between student creativity and professional production, celebrating the cast's achievements and their promising futures.

Notable Quotes

• Tanner Osborne on balancing passion and career:
  "I just don't know that that's gonna be, you know, my career sort of thing." [12:31]

• Chanel Valdez on her inspiration:
  "I was inspired by Hidden Figures and Martian." [14:34]

• James Slivero on his favorite characters:
  "I was Marcellus Washburn... and then we did the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where it was a dual role of the professor and Aslan." [19:31]

Conclusion

This episode of I Witness offers a comprehensive look into the lives of the cast members behind Miles and Quinn. Their reflections on past performances, the unique process of creating an audio drama, and their aspirations beyond high school provide listeners with a deeper appreciation of the dedication and talent that fuel the Eyewitness Podcast. As they embark on new academic and professional journeys, the foundation laid at Northwest Christian School continues to inspire and shape their futures.

Transcript

[Jeff Brown]

Welcome back to the fifth episode of the Eyewitness Podcast. My name is Jeff Brown, and I'm superintendent at Northwest Christian School and NCS Online. And we are so thrilled that so many of you have been invested in this podcast following all four episodes of Miles and Quinn and the whole gang. And we thought that it would be fun to sit down after this, last week's ultimate culmination of all the adventures in the Elysium. We thought it would be fun to bring the cast, a few members of the cast at least, into the booth and to talk through what they thought of the eyewitness experience. So I am joined today by Chris Zimmerman of Red 5 Media, who is really the master mind behind the Eyewitness Podcast. Chris, welcome. James Slivero plays Genoa. Actually, you played a couple roles, didn't you?

[James Slivero]

Genoa and Simon.

[Jeff Brown]

Genoa and Simon. We're also joined by Tanner Osborne, who played Miles, and Chanel Valdez, who played Quinn. Guys, welcome. Thanks for joining us. So let's start with. Let's start with Miles and Quinn, as you shall heretofore affectionately be known in my estimation. But let's start with Tanner. Tanner, you are a senior. You are getting ready to graduate in just a few short days from Northwest Christian School. You have been deeply involved in arts while a student at our school. You've been involved in plays and musicals, and not only that, but we do something that's pretty fun for a high school. We do movies. Can you reflect back on some of the things? What roles have you played? What have you been involved with as a student in terms of the fine arts at Northwest Christian?

[Tanner Osborne]

Yeah, I've pretty much been involved with NCS Productions since freshman year. Really? My first show was Radium Girls, and then from there, I've been involved with High School Musical Noises Off. We did Beauty and the Beast and then most recently, Clue and Anastasia, as well as I was involved in all of the movies that we've done pretty much from Do Gooders. So that's Do Gooders. We did the Next Shot and then Split Second and then Test Takers.

[Jeff Brown]

Now you. You have been involved in two of my favorite moments in Fine Arts. You know what I'm gonna say, don't you? Yeah.

[Tanner Osborne]

Yeah.

[Jeff Brown]

Okay, number one, what is it from the movie?

[Tanner Osborne]

It was from Do Gooders where we were making a plan, which the plot of the movie, we foresaw an accident happening. We were trying to prevent that, and the accident was a baby falling into the pool. And. And after we brainstormed how we were going to save this baby from preeminently falling into the pool. My line was, let's go save that baby. And Mr. Brown has quoted that back at me.

[Jeff Brown]

Can you honor this old man with just one last. And I'll never ask you to say it again. All right, here it is. You're preparing for graduation. Let's hear it one more time.

[Tanner Osborne]

Let's go save that baby.

[Jeff Brown]

That's right. Nailed it. Nailed it.

[Tanner Osborne]

Still got.

[Jeff Brown]

Still got it. All right. And can you guess the other one? That is. I thought it was one of. From this year, one of the standout moments in one of our plays.

[Tanner Osborne]

Oh, in a play. Is it from Clue?

[Jeff Brown]

Yes.

[Tanner Osborne]

See that? That's a lot harder. Clue is a lot of improv.

[Jeff Brown]

That's exactly it.

[Tanner Osborne]

Yeah.

[Jeff Brown]

Your death. I was there on the. I think it was the Sunday. And your death is the character. What character do you play?

[Tanner Osborne]

Wadsworth.

[Jeff Brown]

I was the Wadsworth. Yeah. Your death persisted and you started riffing on different people in the crowd. And it was one of the funniest moments.

[Tanner Osborne]

We wanted to drag that one out for a good three minutes.

[Jeff Brown]

So Chanel, let's have the same for you. How can you reflect on your investment in fine arts has been a little bit different? You have been involved in musicals. Which two musicals were you in?

[Chanel Valdez]

I was in Beauty and the Beast and in Anastasia.

[Jeff Brown]

In Anastasia, that's right. But the thing that really you shall heretofore be equated with in my mind is your contributions to the NXNW Film Festival. And well, even this couple weekends ago, we had a 72 hour film festival. You were robbed because you didn't win that one. But that was an outstanding contribution. That was really good. And Crusaders Got Talent. Can you talk a little bit about your fine arts experience in Recollections?

[Chanel Valdez]

Well, I started to do the Crusaders Got Talent when it started in 2020 and I just started doing submissions and then they started to get accepted and I started to grow from that and saw, oh, I could do animation stuff. And then I don't know which one, but one of those Crusaders Got Talent. Zimmerman had signed it. And then one of you two reached out to me saying, hey, this is a pretty good submission. You should put it into the festival. I'm not gonna say the letters cause I'll mess them up.

[Jeff Brown]

But nxnw.

[Chanel Valdez]

Nxw. That's as far as I go. And so I just started to submit for the both of them and I've just been.

[Jeff Brown]

You've made some money.

[Chanel Valdez]

Yeah, I've made Some money, cash prizes.

[Jeff Brown]

Yeah, that's been exciting to watch. Where did your love of animation?

[Chanel Valdez]

Um, probably from, like, seeing, like, media and like, all, like, the. I like to. On YouTube, I would like to just see, like, people do songs and then do their own animations, put their own ocs or, like, create, like, fan art of others. And it was just, like, really cool to me how you could use a song and be. And it be interpreted in so many different ways. It was also just, like, an outlet for me because, like, I love to sing and I would like to do covers of stuff, but also be able to bring, like, another artistic element to that.

[Jeff Brown]

Love it. Love it. Now, one of the cool things about Eyewitness was it brought together not just students, but it was fun to pull in some staff. And this brings us to our friend James. James, you played Simon and to great effect, Genoa. But you're also an alumni of Northwest Christian School. What's your position within the school right now?

[James Slivero]

Well, I work with the tech team, so just helping out with keeping our technology running. I've also got some involvement with, like, the audio visual for chapels and those sorts of things.

[Jeff Brown]

Now, what I did not know until Mr. Zimmerman told me this is that you, as a student, this was before my time. But you were involved in the fine arts as well, including playing the role of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia.

[James Slivero]

That's correct.

[Jeff Brown]

Awesome. So you guys are all invested in fine arts in some form or another. How was Eyewitness recording this podcast audio drama? How was it different than the fine arts endeavors you've done in the past? And maybe we'll start with James.

[James Slivero]

The way that we recorded it was just one person at a time in this very booth. So it's not as much of the interplay, the back and forth. You don't necessarily know how other people have said their lines. So it's really been neat to get to hear how it all comes together because we, who participated, we're hearing that for the first time along with everybody else. And then Chris would record different versions of the lines, and so he was having to put in all kinds of time to pick and choose which ones worked best together and just. Just make that into what you all have heard on the podcast.

[Jeff Brown]

So did you. Did you have a sense, as you were reciting the lines, of their impact within the plot development of the patio?

[James Slivero]

The podcast, we had the whole script to look over, so we had that understanding of it, but we hadn't gotten to hear who would be doing the various parts or how they would be reading and interpreting it and all of that.

[Jeff Brown]

So what about for you guys, Chanel, how was this different than what you've been involved in up to this. Up to this point?

[Chanel Valdez]

Well, it's pretty similar to what I do for the animations, lines wise. Cause I just record the lines and I just stitch things together what I like and what I don't like. But it is different not being able to hear other people's lines or how they've said stuff in order to respond to them. I get some snippets of what's available, but for the most part, it's like I might interpret something one way and the next person might interpret it a different way. But it's still fun in that aspect of not knowing 100%, is it gonna sound well or not. But of course, the director also knows what's going on with everything. It's kind of just like a bit of choosing in the dark. Cause you're just like, you know what you're doing, but you don't know what everybody else is doing. And you're just hoping everything goes into the same project the right way, if that makes sense.

[Jeff Brown]

It does. It's really interesting. Tanner, how about you? You've done quite a bit of stage work with the school, and this is completely different. It sounds like. And you're a master, obviously a master of improv. Did this kind of cramp your style?

[Tanner Osborne]

It is definitely different, for starters, with the different plays and musicals we put on. For example, Anastasia, we had auditions for that out in December, and the actual performance wasn't until beginning of April. So we had around about three months to prepare for it. And it was so much time and effort that goes into it. Whereas the podcast, we ended up filming the entirety of all of my lines of dialogue in pretty much three hours, give or take. So it was completely different. It was like pretty low commitment. Just kind of show up and you do your lines. I think it equates itself more to film with the movies. The way that we were able to record the lines and we did different takes depending on what we wanted. If we didn't like how something sounded, we could just redo it. We weren't stuck to a certain rhythm or anything like that. I think it was a lot more fun. We were able to mess around a little bit more. It was a lot more fun in those three hours while still getting the work done. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. You just could. There's a lot of freedom. There's a lot of, you know, give and take and.

[Jeff Brown]

Yeah, well, that's cool. It sounds. It sounds like an amazing experience. So now, Chanel, you don't graduate this year. You are a junior.

[Chanel Valdez]

I'm a sophomore.

[Jeff Brown]

You're a sophomore.

[Chanel Valdez]

Yeah.

[Jeff Brown]

Praise God. Praise God. We got two more years of animations and performances. But is God given you guys a sense of where your paths will go? So, Tanner, for you, what does next year look like? Are you headed to university, and if so, what are you going to study?

[Tanner Osborne]

Yeah. So being a senior coming up in graduation season, we're really ready to graduate. But after graduation, my plans are to go to asu. I got accepted into the honors program there. So asu, Barrett. And I'm going to be studying biomedical engineering.

[Jeff Brown]

Wow.

[Tanner Osborne]

Nine classes for a semester.

[Jeff Brown]

Wow. Now I'm a little stunned that when I asked that question, you didn't answer by saying, hey, I'm going into theater. So have you given any thought to being involved in the fine arts after graduation?

[Tanner Osborne]

Yeah. So my kind of mindset with this is there are a lot of other guys out there who do this sort of stuff that have, you know, the full gung ho mentality for it. This is, like, their life. Like, I know a couple of dudes from doing, like, theater throughout the valley. They're in, like, three shows consistently at the same time.

[Jeff Brown]

Wow.

[Tanner Osborne]

As the year goes on. So my mindset was more that I'm not at that level of commitment, and I haven't, like, fully, you know, gone for it as much of these guys have. And with the competitiveness of theater, I didn't know how much I wanted to put all of my eggs in that basket. So then taking, ironically, against my will, taking human AP this semester, I learned about the brain and the body and stuff like that. And that kind of really showed me. This is, like, the first thing I've been super passionate for and, like, excited for throughout, really, my life. So I kind of figured that that's where I was called to do instead of theater. I still like doing theater, and, you know, this stuff is super fun. I enjoy doing it and meeting all the people throughout it. But my philosophy moving forward with it is more that if I'm given the chance to do it, I definitely will. I still find joy in it and stuff like that. I just don't know that that's gonna be, you know, my career sort of thing.

[Jeff Brown]

Got it. So are you thinking pre med?

[Tanner Osborne]

I think so. I'm still kind of looking into the options. I do like the brain a lot. I think it's super interesting. So I wanted to try to go into some sort of field with that. So biomed engineering is more umbrella for everything like that. It opens doors into pre med like you said, or different engineering things.

[Jeff Brown]

Love it.

[Tanner Osborne]

We'll just see what doors God opens up for me.

[Jeff Brown]

Yeah. Love it. All right, Chanel, I am guessing that you're going to when I ask you the same question. Now, granted you're a sophomore, but I'm going to guess that your aspirations are someday to run the Pixar animation studio. Is that correct?

[Chanel Valdez]

No.

[Jeff Brown]

Really?

[Chanel Valdez]

No. Yeah.

[Jeff Brown]

What are you thinking in terms of a potential career path?

[Chanel Valdez]

Well, I've been told by many people that I'm pretty well rounded. So, like, I feel like pulled in like many different directions on what to do as a job. What I've settled on for now is probably astroengineering at NASA because I think that'd be fun. I've always liked the stars, so I think it'd be cool to build rocket ships and stuff like that. I was inspired by Hidden Figures and Martian. Martian is my favorite movie along with Hidden Figures. Just to rewatch. Rewatch. I didn't read the book, but I watched the movie.

[Jeff Brown]

Yeah, the book is fantastic. So you have to. It's by Andy Weir. It's really good. All right, so it's a little stunning that our two leads and two of the dominant fine arts figures on our campus are going into engineering fields. Interesting. So let me ask you this, and this is what many of our listeners are probably wondering is do you think that there could be a return at some point, a future season of Miles and Quinn?

[Tanner Osborne]

I think there definitely could be. I know. I think we're both pretty happy with the experience and we're pretty willing to do it again if it came up.

[Chanel Valdez]

Yeah, I would love that opportunity. I was kind of like bummed that it just ended and I was like, oh. I wanted to see more of their lives and their personalities and more adventures with them. So I would definitely like to keep doing it.

[Jeff Brown]

Well, that's cool. Well, we'll see what happens. All right now, James, you had a really interesting situation. You played two different characters. And as it turns out, you were initially cast as Genoa, but your voice talent was such is that you kind of stole the role of Simon away from J.T. barnes, who plays Miles Dad. Is that an accurate read on the situation?

[Chris Zimmerman]

So JT was. He was gonna be Miles's dad as well as I think maybe Ishma the Pharisee or somebody else. And we did his lines as Miles's dad. It wasn't perfect. And then we tried to do the other lines, and he's got a very distinct voice JT does. It's very familiar if you. You've heard it once. And so I tried messing around with. With pitch and other effects, and it just didn't sound good at all. So when I came into the studio with James, I said, hey, we might just keep you as just Genoa, because I don't know how well it's going to work out. Disguising your voice for Simon. And James goes in his very nice, gentle, normal voice. Well, I've got, you know, I've practiced it. Let me just take a chance and see if you like a couple lines. And he did them. And it was.

[Jeff Brown]

I like that story better than my scene Stiller story. That's really good. But here's what jumps out at me from that story. James, you practiced your lines. Where did you do that? In the car at the dinner table with your wife and baby or what did that. What was that like?

[James Slivero]

No, it was mostly just mental practice going over the script and kind of internally envisioning how I was going to do them.

[Jeff Brown]

Okay, all right. Well, you're one of the standout performances of this podcast in my perspective. What did you. At any point, I mean, you must have been involved in fine arts outside of the technology field.

[James Slivero]

Yes.

[Jeff Brown]

Can you talk about what are your fine arts endeavors that you're currently involved in or have been involved in?

[James Slivero]

So let's see, when I was a student here at Northwest, which was a long time ago, 1998 to 2002, see, we got to do Music Man. I was Marcellus Washburn for that. And then we did the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where it was a dual role of the professor and Aslan, really. So, again, kind of that Professor Diggory. Yeah, exactly. Talk about tying things together. Yeah, that's a really neat. What Lewis did with that character was really neat as he continued writing the Chronicles. So in college, I was also involved in some drama theater type activities, opera scenes and those sorts of things.

[Chris Zimmerman]

And James might not remember, but as a short little freshman, I would say, James, can. Can you sing the Grinch song, please? And it would be the middle of, you know, April or September, and his. His voice was just so magnetic.

[Jeff Brown]

Were you. Did you have a dead ringer for Boris Karloff, I presume?

[James Slivero]

Not quite as good as him. Unfortunately, that was. He does it really well.

[Jeff Brown]

Would I be out of place to ask for a line or two of the Grinch now.

[James Slivero]

Oh, you can cut out the bad stuff. You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You really are a heel. You're as cuddly as a cactus, as charming as an eel. Mr. Grinch.

[Jeff Brown]

Wow. See?

[Chris Zimmerman]

See, that's why I did it. That's why I asked.

[Jeff Brown]

Oh, my goodness, you are talented. So that begs the question, would you be open for a return of Genoa in a future season of Eyewitness?

[James Slivero]

Sounds fun.

[Jeff Brown]

All right. Or maybe we can somehow rewrite the script for future episodes that include. Include Boris Karloff singing the Grinch.

[Chris Zimmerman]

I think we can do that.

[Jeff Brown]

No copyright issue there.