Тёмная ночь

My dear friend Jennifer has graciously agreed to be a part of this little enterprise by lending her voice and substantial acting talent to the show. If we ever manage to record this sucker (and we will), then Jen will likely be our only professional actor. She classes up the place quite a bit - and lordy, do we ever need it.

For Halloween last year, Jen made a mix tape of songs that kind of go with the whole autumn-All Hallow's Eve-Day of the Dead kind of theme. (Okay, there were no actual cassettes involved, but I like the idea of a "mix tape" and I don't want the term to ever go out of style. Most of my childhood took place in the 80s, after all.) One of the songs she put on there was a lovely World War II-era number called Тёмная ночь (pronounced "tyom-na-ya noch" - long 'o' as in 'boat') which means "Dark Night."

I instantly fell in love with it as soon as I heard it. Give it a listen. This is from a movie called "Dva Boytsa" (Two Soldiers).



I'm even more excited that we've found a place to use it in the show. I can't give you too many details because the episode is kind of special and I don't want to give any spoilers - but suffice it to say, this song is perfect. Okay. One spoiler... there's at least one person of Russian descent featured in the episode.

If you're interested, you can find a translation of the lyrics here. They're hilarious, by the way. My personal favorite: "I believe in you, my dear she-friend."

Meanwhile, we're puttering along with the scripts. Our excitement level is still high, though -- and I am totally jazzed about the episodes that we're currently working on. Meanwhile, I'm going to beg Jen to teach me how to act. Or failing that, pray that you're so wowed by the story, sound effects, and music that you forgive my terrible acting. That being my most likely master plan - think I'd better go hunt down some more music and practice pretending to be a foley artist.

Side note - Jen is currently playing the lead in a production of Bertholt Brecht's "The Wedding" - with the TUTA theater company here in Chicago. She's spectacular in it. (And I'm not saying that because I'm biased. She's really quite talented - and the rest of the cast is fabulous too. There's one more weekend in the run -- so if you're in the Chicago area, go see it.) More information here.