Nirvana & Gehenna
Season 09, Episode 08
August 16, 2021
Three Worlds. Three Dimensions. One Future.
Re-Imagined Radio presents Nirvana & Gehenna, an interdimensional documentary by Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose. They envision The Multiverse as a helix. Five spirals above Earth is Dry Smoke. Nine spirals up is Farwan. Professor Thedgar Rhedlington, an eccentric scientist from the Dry Smoke continuum, bridges all three, and thus creates Nirvana & Gehenna. Any major event can ripple up and down the helix, and parallel events are born. Heady stuff indeed. But it makes for great storytelling.
Access the episode script
Background
"Nirvana & Gehenna" was created by Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose for their Dry Smoke & Whispers Radio Theatre radio series, started in 1980. Rose says both the title and story refers to the polar opposites of the human experience, heaven (Nirvana) and hell (Gehenna). The work also "encapsulates many of the concepts Jerrel and I have been working on into one pseudo-documentary," he says.
Learn more→ at the Ensérné
Media website, "a repository for various things we have developed or are in the process of developing"
for our radio storytelling.
— Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose
Following Rose's explanation, the term "multiverse" . . . speaks to a hypothetical group of multiple universes which comprise the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information and the physical laws and constraints that describe them. The idea of multiverse, also called "parallel universe," can be traced back the to the Ancient Greek philosophy of Atomism which proposed the creation of infinite parallel worlds resulting from the collision of atoms. The idea of multiple universes was further defined during the Middle Ages. The term was first used in its current science fiction and physics context by Michael Moorcock in his science fiction novella The Sundered Worlds, 1963. Debate for and against the existence of multiverse continues today.
"Jerrel and I consider The Multiverse as a helix," says Rose. "Five spirals above Earth is the universe that contains the dimension of Dry Smoke, (the dimension in which the first radio series we ever produced was set) and nine spirals up is the universe that contains Farwan. Professor Thedgar Rhedlington, an eccentric scientist from the Dry Smoke continuum, stumbles upon a way to bridge all three, and thus the birth of "Nirvana & Gehenna." Like a ripple in the water, any major event can move up and down the helix. Nothing is isolated or walled off from anything and parallel events are born." The entire collection of universes is malleable. Sounds mad — but is it? You decide.
"We were envisioning these dimensions as being in a helix even though 'up or down' is relative and only supports three dimensional mapping. But, to give an idea of location to the audience and also stress the vibratory angle or concrescence, as things get closer in they (the energy) move more and more rapidly to the point of invisibility at some stage. The density factor was one of the things we were thinking of when placing these 'worlds,'" says McQuen.
This audio clip of Rose offers more explanation of the thinking behind "Nirvana & Gehenna."
Production
Contents
"Nirvana & Gehenna," an original radio drama written and produced by Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose
Cast
Jodi Lorimor as Katara Collins
Mark Loring as Title Announcer
David Maier as Vassenbinder Newscaster
Sam A. Mowry as Grendon Thanes
Eric Newsome as QBS Title Announcer
Jan Powell as Mahoudine Anna Narova
Marc Rose as Professor Thedgar Rhedlington and the "Keycard," the QBS Archivist
Special thanks to Mr. Fernandinande Le Mur, for the open archiving of the brilliant PR Gnus of the World
Credits
Written by Jerrel McQuen
Sound Design, Original Music Composition, Post Production by Marc Rose
Social Media by Regina Carol Social Media and Photography
Promotional Graphics by Holly Slocum Design
Produced and Hosted by John F. Barber
Significance
The creative partnership between Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose began in 1974 when they began telling stories using images and sound about an imaginary world they called Farwan. They developed a radio series, Dry Smoke & Whispers. According to Rose, "'Nirvana & Gehenna' encapsulates many of the concepts Jerrel and I have been working on into one pseudo-documentary."
Compiling fifty years worth of stories and sounds into one program was no easy feat but Rose, a three time Emmy award winning sound designer, demonstrates his mastery in storytelling through cinematic sound design. But what exactly does that mean? Rose defines it as crafting or editing an entire sound production. That could include fine tuning organically captured direct and ambient sounds as well as utilizing special audio effects during post production.
Audio texture is another aspect of cinematic sound design, according to Rose. For example, the worlds featured in "Nirvana & Gehenna" sound like they have existed forever, and those sounds layered together add what feels like texture.
But do sounds have texture? Rose says yes and describes audio texture as a tool to provide definition or a seam to one's story. He credits that technique with successfully creating transitions that connect the worlds, dimensions and stories in this episode. "There are several things going on there that make the seams deliberately obvious and fluid at the same time."
Producer's Notes
Radio storytelling, and its use of sound(s), promotes unique opportunities for storytellers to create worlds and ways to be in them. These worlds, created and experienced with sound, are every bit as believable as the world we experience around us.
We normally think there is but one world. This one. Right. Here. The one we can touch. See. Smell. Taste.
This episode of Re-Imagined Radio explores The Multiverse. Multiple worlds each connected to the others. And we do it all through sound.
"Nirvana & Gehenna" is an interdimensional multiverse documentary written by Jerrel McQuen and produced by three-time Emmy winner for sound design Marc Rose. Both McQuen and Rose live in Portland, Oregon.
The Multiverse. Multiple worlds. Parallel universes. They’ve been argued about and conceptualized since Ancient Greece. McQuen and Rose offer us their unique and interesting concept.
For them, The Multiverse is a helix. Five spirals above Earth is the universe that contains the dimension of Dry Smoke, and nine spirals up is the universe that contains Farwan. Professor Thedgar Rhedlington, an eccentric scientist from the Dry Smoke continuum, stumbles upon a way to bridge all three worlds / universes, and thus the birth of Nirvana & Gehenna. Like a ripple in the water, any major event can move up and down the helix. Nothing is isolated or walled off from anything and parallel events are born. The entire collection of universes is malleable. Sounds mad — but is it? You decide.
As I noted earlier, meaning is made by listening. Listen to the cinematic sound McQuen and Rose employ for Nirvana & Gehenna. "See" the "movie" in your mind’s eye. By listening carefully you become part of the story. The story becomes part of you. The experience has meaning.
Promotion
Press
Graphics
