THE CORDS
Project Overview
Welcome to Maplewood-Sparta, where suburban streets are lined with shadows. Some say the 90s are dead and gone. But here ... they linger.
This is the third in the Spartans! anthology—THE CORDS: a story of Thanksgiving 1994, a good Catholic boy with a beastly hunger, and a hayride to hell.
This is a narrator-driven audio story (part of the Spartans! campfire fiction podcast). We’re seeking a single actor to voice Kevin, the first-person narrator, who recounts a truly haunted hayride in Thanksgiving in 1994, as well as 5 other characters.
Run-time: Approx. 40 minutes.
Audition deadline: November 1, 2025
Casting decisions: November 2, 2025
Recording deadline: November 12 (to allow time for sound design)
Release: November 17 and 19, 2025 on The Cosmographia Codex Substack (paid and free) then November 21 on Spotify/Apple/Amazon Music/Audible/YouTube.
🎧 File Requirements
Format: MP3 for auditions; WAV required for final recording
Sample rate: 44.1 kHz or higher
File naming: [YourName]_TheCords_Audition.mp3 (auditions) / [YourName]_TheCords_Final.wav (final)
Final files (when ready for production) should be clean, broadcast-ready voice tracks: no background noise, no music/effects, minimal breaths, consistent levels.
Please let me know if you need to know anything more about me or the project. You can also learn more about my writing and production history at https://www.ninaalvarez.com/nina-alvarez-writing
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Spartans! is an 8-episode audio drama series of teen ghost stories told in a campfire style (think Are You Afraid of the Dark? meets 90s nostalgia and hauntings). Each episode is narrated by a different voice.
👉 The narrator for THE CORDS must also voice all dialogue, including Kevin’s best friend, the wagon driver, and the two girls he meets along the way. That means subtle differentiation between characters is essential. We don’t need big cartoonish voices—just enough tonal shifts, pacing, or texture to clearly distinguish each speaker while keeping Kevin’s narration consistent and believable.
The role calls for:
- Warm, intimate narration (Kevin, looking back on his 15-year-old self)
- Range to handle voices from cocky teen boys to eerie adults to tough but somewhat haunted girls
- Campfire-storytelling style—inviting, atmospheric, with the ability to build tension and dread
You can listen to part of THE CORDS, mocked up with AI voices, to get a sense of what I'm looking for in the voice performances in terms of pacing and tonality. Otherwise, please make it your own.
⚠️ Content Advisory:
This episode includes themes of sexual awakening, shame, and the hunger for connection. Rated PG-16 for mature emotional material and brief suggestive elements.
You can also listen to the first episode, THE JACKET, on YouTube to get a sense of the overall vibe of the series.
KEVIN (Narrator, 15, Catholic school sophomore)
Voice: Warm, vulnerable, earnest.
Tone: Confessional, like he’s telling us a story years later but still feels the raw ache of it.
Needs to carry the whole piece—shifting between quiet shame, gnawing hunger, teen longing, and moments of terror.
Think: A sensitive kid trying to sound tough, but you always hear the cracks.
Feel: He moves through quiet shame, curiosity, desire, and flashes of terror.
GABE (Kevin’s best friend, same age)
Voice: Cocky, playful, easy charisma.
Tone: Fast-talking, teasing, brash.
Underneath: A little more fragile than he lets on—his bravado hides fear.
Needs: Can flip between snark and charm quickly.
WENDY (16-17, “Black Sabbath girl”)
Voice: Fierce, guarded, sharp-edged.
Tone: Smoky, a little scornful, but with moments where the armor slips and she sounds young, almost tender.
Needs: Can shift between bravado and sudden vulnerability.
MARGE (16-17, “dark-haired Lydia-from-Beetlejuice girl”)
Voice: Haunting, soft, distant.
Tone: Flat, otherworldly at times, like she’s half in this world and half somewhere else.
Needs: When she says “Dead, but not gone,” it should chill.
DRIVER (adult, creepy presence)
Voice: Folksy but subtly menacing.
Needs: Storyteller cadence; his Wendigo tale should be hypnotic and menacing, almost lulling the kids in.
NOAH (classmate, Kevin’s eventual girlfriend, late appearance)
Just one line. Voice: Open, curious, earnest.
- american
- warm
- narration
- male young adult
- male teen
KEVIN/NARRATOR (confessional): That’s what I remember most — the food like lead in my stomach, and still wanting more. Not food, exactly. Something else.”
THE DRIVER (folksy but subtly menacing): You kids ever heard the story of the Wendigo? Comes out of old tales, long before our kind got here. Long winters. When food gets scarce and hunger is always at the door.
WENDY (tough girl who is feeling haunted): Then it was never Ethan? Calling to me?
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