Since Jan 2023 I have been a student at Humber College’s School for Writers – Creative Writing Graduate Certificate in play writing. Under the guidance of my mentor, I have written the audio drama script – After. The play is six 15-minute episodes. The goal is to post as a podcast.

The next step is to test record the first two episodes. The play has seven main characters and several one-episode parts. I will be sharing the script interested people soon.

A murdered young man discovers that a dead hooker can help him make sense of the afterlife, especially when he realizes his killer has followed him into death.

After is an audio drama in which the arrogant protagonist, Todd (murder victim), and criminal antagonist, Dave (murderer), die in the first scene. Todd enlists the help of a dead hooker to connect with his alive girlfriend, Jessie, while he copes with his new existence, where Dave still threatens him. These characters find themselves in a triangle of adventure as Todd desperately tries to make amends to Jessie for his arrogance.

Episodes:

1. Dying Is Just The Beginning
2. Fate Can Be A Bitch
3. A Matter Of Death And Relife
4. The Funeral
5. The Reunion
6. Todd’s Role In Death

Main Characters:

Note: Passers do not age in After. As an example, Brat still looks to be in her 20’s even though she died 10 years ago.

• NARRATOR (older female)
  The Narrator is an independent, omniscient character who is telling the story.
• TODD CARLISLE (26 male, died recently)
  Todd’s main flaw in life is arrogance because he has had everything come so easily. He’s school smart but lacking in emotional intelligence and tact. He has easily achieved most of the goals he has set out to conquer in the areas of sports, school, career and woman. He has enjoyed a privileged life that came very easily.
• BRAT (BERNICE) ALLWORTH (20’s female, dead 10 years)
  Brat got her nickname from her father when she complained about her name one day. The nickname stuck. She grew up with an alcoholic mother and distant. Brat left home and hitched a ride to another city where to survive she became a prostitute. A man took her in his car to a field, beat, raped and killed her.
• IRIS FINCH (15 female, dead 110 years) – Collector of After history
  A timid 15-year-old maid from England is traveling to the US on the Titanic. She is saved in a lifeboat but dies two days later, of consumption.
• DAVE BUTTS (40 male, died recently) – Bank Robber
  Dave’s anger reaches a peak, and he decides to strike out against the world by leading a life of crime. The incident in the bank when Todd interferes with the robbery is the first time Dave shots anyone. After death, he is even angrier and determined to act out to pay back the world for the pain and neglect he has suffered.
• JESSIE WILSON (20’s female) – Todd’s Love Interest
  Jessie is Todd’s girlfriend and has fallen in love with him. She has worked at the bank in the mall for just over a year. She is pretty and kind, and senses Todd might propose to her. Jessie has a secret, something she’s feeling guilty that she never told Todd?
• WALTER (older man who killed Brat)
  Cruel drunk abusive, he prides himself on giving to the church as a good person should.

If you want to be informed as plans progress, please email me. rich@richhelms.ca