Mostly Void, Partially Stars by Joseph Fink

Author:Joseph Fink
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062468666
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-07-20T04:00:00+00:00

PROVERB: One incorporeal being said to the other, “I’m not here too! Make friends?”

EPISODE 16:

“THE PHONE CALL”

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

GUEST VOICE: JEFFREY CRANOR

THIS WAS OUR FIRST EPISODE WITH A VOICE OTHER THAN CECIL BALDWIN’S. That voice was mine. I played Carlos, the scientist.

It was a short-lived acting gig.

Not that I did a bad job. (I mean, I didn’t do a bad job, did I? You liked it, right?) But as Carlos’s significance grew in the first year of Welcome to Night Vale, so did our desire to actually voice him on the show.

At episode 16, we just weren’t there yet. We weren’t thinking long term. Carlos was still a significant character, but we hadn’t really started considering what it meant to cast a person in a role in an ongoing series. First and most importantly, casting a voice means you are pretty much stuck with that person, so they better be talented and delightful.

Not that I’m not talented or delightful. (Right?)

But here’s the other thing, I’m a straight white man playing a gay man of color. So by the time we started performing Welcome to Night Vale live shows and writing more parts for Carlos on the podcast, it simply didn’t make sense to not cast Dylan Marron, who is way more talented and delightful than I (or anyone) could ever be.

Plus, not casting white people in roles for people of color is the correct thing to do. It’s not a noble or laudable thing to do. It is what you are supposed to do, so we corrected this, by casting a person of color in the role.

It wasn’t until episodes 19 A and B where we really started casting professional actors to play other voices than Cecil’s. As a playwright, nothing is more helpful to the writing process than hearing your words performed. Actors inform characters just as much as writers do, and Dylan has taken Carlos in directions I never thought possible. It’s been an absolute joy to work with him.

—Jeffrey Cranor

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