Grandmother's Garden

Grandmother's Garden

Project Overview

Have you ever gone on a hike in the woods and suddenly realized you could have been transported back 100 years into the past and not even realize it? Grandmother's Garden is a multi-part immersive experience proposed for Dollywood (as a part of my graduate thesis) that will take guests into the woods, back into time and memory, to join a tradition as old as the mountains themselves. 

What is the project?

I'm currently working on my MFA in themed entertainment design. This project is my thesis: a proposed attraction for Dollywood that is essentially a very dressed up observation tower with preshow. 

The story takes us into the Great Smoky Mountain's National Park to the abandoned town of Elkmont where we seek to find the rumored Grandmother's Garden. Upon finding her cabin, we're ushered inside and transported back in time and memory to join the order of gardeners ourselves and participate in their initiation ritual. We conjure up the memory of grandmother herself who tells us we must always listen to the garden - and we realize she is talking about us, each other. The garden isn't a physical garden but the community that has blossomed along the way and as we realize this we find ourselves high in the air, taking in views of that very community all around us.

The end deliverable will be an animatic of the experience. The entire video will be about 10 minutes long.

What to expect

The project is still being written but a recording ready draft should be ready very soon. If cast, expect me to send you a draft of the script then, and record within the following week. Please provide at least 3 readings of each line as .Wav 24bit 48khz. While I will try to keep re-readings to a minimum, expect 2 rounds of notes just in case.  

This project is paid, please see the amounts listed in the roles below. I will send payment via PayPal or Venmo upon receipt of all recordings.

Please message me if you have any questions. Thanks so much for participating if this project interests you. 

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Latest Updates

  • Thank You!

    Thank you again to everyone who auditioned...there were so many wonderful recordings and takes on the roles submitted. I especially want to thank everyone who auditioned for the role of the cast member....unfortunately in the revision process this role was eliminated. These things happen, but I really do appreciate all of you that took the time to submit. Now it's onto further production...there's much, much to do...the project won't be complete for several months, but when it is, I'll be sure to post the final product here.

  • Deadline Extended + New Role

    Hi Everyone! A new role has been added and the deadline extended for an additional week. The new role is that of an announcer...he really serves as a plot device to convey exposition, but it's also through his voice that we recognize the passage of time. He actually plays three different roles in the experience. First as the public announcer on a funicular, then as the host of a modern radio program, and finally as a field reporter back in the early 1900s. Thank you everyone to has already submitted...you've created some very difficult choices for me, but I promise casting decisions will start being made very soon.

  • Thank You!

    Thank you to everyone who auditioned for this! I'm overwhelmed by the response and it's definitely going to take a few days to sort through all the auditions. But just from an initial listen, y'all are all very talented. Also keep an eye on this page, the script is in rewrites at the moment, and there might be an additional role or two coming along.
Project Roles: Grandmother / Dolly Parton Man MC Female MC Cast Member / Gardener Voice of Memory 1 Voice of Memory 2 Voice of Memory 3 Voice of Memory 4 Voice of Memory 5 Announcer
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Grandmother / Dolly Parton
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 100 USD
Role assigned to: Janwelchvo

Grandmother was one of the the first residents of the town of Elkmont just around the turn of the 20th Century. She is long gone now and only the voice of her memory remains. She was wise, caring, nurturing with just a little bit of spunk. If this attraction were actually built she would be played by Dolly Parton, for this project I'm looking for someone who can do a good elderly Dolly Parton impression, rich with gravitas and wisdom.

  • You must listen to the garden.

  • But it’s not enough to listen just once. To water once. To prune and weed once. No. You must listen every day - like a clock that must be wound each day before the sun rises.

  • I am but one plant in a field. One leaf on a vine. It takes an entire community to remember the memories of those who came before, to carry on their legacy into the future. To  remember why they came together in the first place and move forward together. But if they can do that then no garden is ever abandoned, no town ever lost, it continues to grow far beyond the boundaries that were laid and people who planted it.

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 24 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Man MC
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 50 USD
Role assigned to: gmillerhoctor

The male MC is warm, gentle, compassionate. Think about therapists, people who mediate a lot, or Jerry from Soul. He speaks calmly and intentionally. He is excited about the events that are unfolding, but first and foremost wants us to feel safe and comfortable. Bonus points for Tennessee or Appalachian accents.

  • Welcome Gardeners. What is about to take place is a tradition that has taken place many times before.

  • Grandmother was the lifeblood of this community. When many of us forgot why it was we came to live in Elkmont in the first place, she was the one that made us remember

  • And in turn we preserve the memories of those who came before us. And so on and so forth, as has been done in these mountains as it has always been done back to the beginning. Back to grandmother herself.

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 54 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Female MC
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 50 USD
Role assigned to: TrishaR

The female MC is similar to the male MC, warm, compassionate, and gentle. Between the two of them though, she is the one slightly more in charge, a little bit firmer, a little bit more serious. She too is excited to see us and begin the initiation ceremony. Bonus points again for Tennessee or Appalachian accent, but it is not required.

  • Welcome. We’re so glad you could make it to this special place. We are voices of memory, long gone from this town, but present as long as there are those to remember us.

  • But the garden is not just something anyone can see. You have to answer the call as we have done, and those before us. As grandma once said, “You have to listen to the garden to be able to see it.”

  • It is time. Today is the day a new memory begins. Today is the day you become gardeners!

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 31 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Cast Member / Gardener
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 25 USD
cast offsite

This is the person who in real life would be an employee of the park directing us into the preshow and providing a little spiel before the attraction began. Any adult age is fine, gender does not matter. Bonus points for Tennessee or other Appalachian accent though not required. This cast member should be just a little mysterious...we're not quite sure if she/he is just an employee of the park or if they know something a little bit more about what is going on in this abandoned cabin (where the preshow begins). 

  • Welcome everyone! On behalf of all us gardeners I’m so glad you could make it Welcome to those who are new, and a special welcome to those who have sought to return. This is a special place: a home to someone many of us care deeply about: a place where we come to remember.

  • Memory is a powerful thing...it flows throughout the world uniting both future and past. We carry the legacies of those who came before us in every action we take, and they carry on long after we’re gone. But we’re united here, for this one moment, in the present. And Just. In. Time.

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 41 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Voice of Memory 1
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 10 USD
Role assigned to: shelaingeal

There are many voices of memory throughout the attraction that have just one or two lines. These are people who are grateful, sincere, remembering a person who meant a great deal to themselves and their community. In the final edit their lines will be cut together as if finishing each other's sentences and echoing all around. I will have each voice of memory read all the lines and then cut together. If you are able to do multiple voices, feel free to audition with multiple voices and if cast, do all the lines in different voices. Bonus points for Tennessee or Appalachian accents though they are not required.

  • I remember when she helped me find my mother’s favorite watering can. It was such a simple, silly thing, I thought it had been lost forever. No one -

  • No one understood just how much it meant to me. I would have been all alone and terribly angry because -

  • Nearly all my harvest had been ruined, I would have never known it was was an honest mistake -

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 17 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Voice of Memory 2
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 10 USD
cast offsite

There are many voices of memory throughout the attraction that have just one or two lines. These are people who are grateful, sincere, remembering a person who meant a great deal to themselves and their community. In the final edit their lines will be cut together as if finishing each other's sentences and echoing all around. I will have each voice of memory read all the lines and then cut together. If you are able to do multiple voices, feel free to audition with multiple voices and if cast, do all the lines in different voices. Bonus points for Tennessee or Appalachian accents though they are not required.

  • I remember when she helped me find my mother’s favorite watering can. It was such a simple, silly thing, I thought it had been lost forever. No one -

  • No one understood just how much it meant to me. I would have been all alone and terribly angry because -

  • Nearly all my harvest had been ruined, I would have never known it was was an honest mistake -

    Honest mistake - but she made feel seen

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 15 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Voice of Memory 3
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 10 USD
cast offsite

There are many voices of memory throughout the attraction that have just one or two lines. These are people who are grateful, sincere, remembering a person who meant a great deal to themselves and their community. In the final edit their lines will be cut together as if finishing each other's sentences and echoing all around. I will have each voice of memory read all the lines and then cut together. If you are able to do multiple voices, feel free to audition with multiple voices and if cast, do all the lines in different voices. Bonus points for Tennessee or Appalachian accents though they are not required.

  • I remember when she helped me find my mother’s favorite watering can. It was such a simple, silly thing, I thought it had been lost forever. No one -

  • No one understood just how much it meant to me. I would have been all alone and terribly angry because -

  • Nearly all my harvest had been ruined, I would have never known it was was an honest mistake -

    Honest mistake - but she made feel seen

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 10 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Voice of Memory 4
open
Paid: Flat Rate 10 USD

There are many voices of memory throughout the attraction that have just one or two lines. These are people who are grateful, sincere, remembering a person who meant a great deal to themselves and their community. In the final edit their lines will be cut together as if finishing each other's sentences and echoing all around. I will have each voice of memory read all the lines and then cut together. If you are able to do multiple voices, feel free to audition with multiple voices and if cast, do all the lines in different voices. Bonus points for Tennessee or Appalachian accents though they are not required.

  • I remember when she helped me find my mother’s favorite watering can. It was such a simple, silly thing, I thought it had been lost forever. No one -

  • No one understood just how much it meant to me. I would have been all alone and terribly angry because -

  • Nearly all my harvest had been ruined, I would have never known it was was an honest mistake -

    Honest mistake - but she made feel seen

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 11 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Voice of Memory 5
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 10 USD
Role assigned to: Joanna Christina

There are many voices of memory throughout the attraction that have just one or two lines. These are people who are grateful, sincere, remembering a person who meant a great deal to themselves and their community. In the final edit their lines will be cut together as if finishing each other's sentences and echoing all around. I will have each voice of memory read all the lines and then cut together. If you are able to do multiple voices, feel free to audition with multiple voices and if cast, do all the lines in different voices. Bonus points for Tennessee or Appalachian accents though they are not required.

  • I remember when she helped me find my mother’s favorite watering can. It was such a simple, silly thing, I thought it had been lost forever. No one -

  • No one understood just how much it meant to me. I would have been all alone and terribly angry because

  • Nearly all my harvest had been ruined, I would have never known it was was an honest mistake

    Honest mistake - but she made feel seen

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 12 Submissions Apply / Audition
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
Announcer
closed
Paid: Flat Rate 50 USD
Role assigned to: DonJacobVO

This a newly added character...his voice appears in 3 different times in 3 different roles. First as a public transit type announcer of the kind you might hear at an airport or Disney monorail.  Second as the host of a modern radio program (think NPR). And third as a field reporter on a radio program in the early 1900s (preferred mid-atlantic accent)

  • (As Public Transit Announcer) Public Hello and welcome to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park! Today, you're headed to the speculated location of the once renown Grandmother's Garden: a thriving tourist attraction that infamously fell into disrepair when the community could not agree how to tend it. Today, little is left of the town of Evergreen and only the memories of the garden remain. Please keep your arms and legs away from the doors, they'll be opening momentarily. Welcome to Evergreen!

  • (As public radio host) Wonderful, wonderful wasn't that just marvelous? A classic tune from Appalachian history. You're listening to WTYM - National Park Radio. Now here's a lovely little clip from the archives: a clip from Grandmother herself being interviewed at the one year anniversary of the opening of the Garden.

  • (As 1920's field reporter) Well hello hello ladies and gentlemen thank you for tuning in - we are here today on a most momentous occasion, a celebration of the phenomenon that's taking the area by storm, and that is of course Grandmother's Garden - a most splendid community garden that's attracting quite a bit of attention to the tiny town of Evergreen. And we have with us today a very special guest ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Grandmother herself. How do you do Ms. Grandmother?

Favorite role Save Role for Later Total Submissions Toggle 13 Submissions Apply / Audition
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