12/27/2025
You kind of shouldn't look at numbers (viewers, readers, etc.) too much when you're just starting out with things. Let's face it... there is a TON of stuff out there these days... movies, television, theater, radio, podcasts... and technology has made it so more and more people can put their stuff out there, so to speak. There is so much that competes for the average attention span, that's for sure.
Three years ago, I wrote a one-act play as an homage to one of my favorite writers ever, Douglas Adams. I kind of took his story of the Earth being destroyed and instead of Arthur Dent, I had the only survivor of said destruction being a 13-year-old girl, Jenny Robinson. That one act was a lot of fun to do with my "On with the Show" workshop three years ago, and I was kind of left thinking, "Well, maybe there's more of a story to tell..." And, turns out, there was, as "The Last Kid in the Universe" became a full length and got its first production in 2023 with Lowell Arts. That production is always going to have a special place in my heart. The young actors did great, I got to work with long time friends and make a lot of new ones as well. That play got me into the Dramatists Guild, which was quite an achievement for me. (Proud member to this day.) And, cherry on the top, it got published by Next Stage Press this year, which was another proud moment in my crazy side gig of an obsessive hobby that is playwriting.
https://www.nextstagepress.com/the-last-kid-in-the-universe/
One of the characters in the play, Captain Kayato, was admittedly designed so that my good friend Jeff Stacer could eventually play it. I knew he could do an excellent pirate voice... after all, he did so as "P**p Stain Pappy" in our sketch comedy endeavors. (I'll tell you some other time about him, I suppose. 🙂 ) Kind of a no brainer that I would have Jeff do the role at some point. And it was just kind of funny to have a walking, talking cat sounding like he was out of Stevenson's "Treasure Island."
So, I wrote a "prequel" of sorts for Captain Kayato and his merry band of Catsairs. Set roughly two years before the events of "Last Kid," I got to design some great new characters (I mean, I love them, at least 🙂 ) for the good Captain to interact with (also bringing over Cadet Rikki Rocket from "Last Kid," right after she was rescued by said Catsairs the first time). I got some great friends to do the voices of the characters, and we've had a blast doing six episodes since the end of last year. The aforementioned Mister Stacer, along with Rob Freund, Janna Chesser, Sarah Harmon, Lyssara Ford, Ryan Vaughan, Mikey Golczynski, Christina Koutouzos, Eli Koskinen, Joseph Harris, and Sabrina Schmidt have all given of their time and talents to bring this to life, and I couldn't be prouder to put their work together over many, many hours in the editing bay. 🙂
We're finishing up Season 1 next Wednesday. Judging by YouTube, we don't have a ton of listeners that way. Spotify... it's okay. As I said earlier, there is a TON of stuff out there... so to get noticed takes a lot of work. And as most of you know, I already work two jobs, so I don't exactly have the time to be a full-time marketer for my creative work. (And I really don't have the money yet to pay someone to do the marketing for me. C'est la vie. 🙂 ) I do what I can.
But you know what? I look at Spotify for Creators and see that my serial audio play "Danny Trooper in the Forgotten Realms" has been played over 1500 times on Spotify alone since we released it a little over a year ago. "Danny" is of course also very special to me, as the first play in that "trilogy" was the first major play I ever wrote and had produced. So, to be able to bring that story to a proper close was very cool, and again, I got to work with talented friends and family to bring it to life. 1500 listens, admittedly, is probably a drop in the bucket when it comes to other stuff that's out there. But you know what? It's pretty impressive to me that I've gotten that many people to listen to it. I hope they all enjoyed it. 🙂
So, this is not a "woe is me" type of late night rant... As always, I sort of use this page as my half-acred journal/diary, so just some thoughts I'm having. I'm thankful for anyone that listens to any of this stuff, runs one of my plays, sees one of my plays, etc. In the end, I suppose it's nice to bring in additional revenue, but honestly? I just like sharing my stories... with whomever wants to read, listen, or view. I'll keep doing this while it's still fun... and right now, it's still fun. It's why I've got two more seasons of "Kayato" planned out. It honestly was thrilling to plot out all the cool stuff I'm going to have happen to those crazy cats in space in 2026 and 2027.
If you feel like listening to some talented people bring some (hopefully) funny sci-fi comedy action to life, give us a listen some time. Or, if you want to wait until Season 1 is completely released this upcoming Wednesday (New Year's Eve), that's fine too. We'll be there. We'll leave the light on for ya. 🙂 (Links below... YouTube playlist and a link to my website where you can find the major podcasting service links as well.)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlZQqzpnf0L8gMUXNb15B3ZhMnogyFo--
https://justbcuzproductions.com/captain-kayato-and-catsairs/
The adventures of Captain Kayato and his feline crew across the galaxy and beyond! (Audio play series.)
