Perhaps best-known as the folk singer-songwriter/band The Matthew Show, Fort Worth’s Matthew Broyles is also something of an accomplished writer. While working on his fourth novel, he recently completed a script for a 1970s-style radio play. Launching on all streaming platforms on Wed, Oct 28, the 11-week Dark Forest is a mystery in the spirit of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. In Dark Forest, the main character comes across mail meant for someone else and becomes wrapped up in a twisting series of events that takes him and others into the orbits of government agencies both public and secret — and to the unknown.
“I grew up back in the ’80s and ’90s,” Broyles said, “when all the UFO-related stuff was kind of analog in books and documentaries on TV. I have a hankering for the analog world at the moment. It felt like a good time period, in 1974, for the season to take place, which coincides with Watergate.”
The slow-burn series told through the found audio of collected cassette tapes captures the wild life of Bill Carlson (Jerry Griffin), who takes a job as a junior investigator at the Center for UFO Studies, which sets him on a path that will unwind reality as he knows it.
“There’s always an anticipation when you put things out in the world,” Broyles said. “Sometimes the unknown of throwing something out there is exciting. Of course, there are people who will poop on anything you do. I mostly think of the people who will say to themselves, ‘That’s different.’ ”
Brooks Burris
The cast of 20 voice actors includes some of Fort Worth’s most prominent musicmakers, like Stefan Prigmore, Keegan McInroe, Clay Anderson, and Richard Keller. More locals and a few friends who live in Oklahoma and Oregon comprise the rest of the cast that’s a mix of veterans and first-timers. The music is by Paul Shapera, creator of The Dolls of New Albion online musical series.
Broyles describes Dark Forest as a reimagined version of Wells’ 1898 radio play — with disco, reflecting the burgeoning genre in 1974.
From Oklahoma City, Jerry Griffin plays lead Bill Carlson. A former auto engineer, Carlson dreams of adventure. Once he starts work at the CUFOS, he sends tapes of his experiences to his estranged son in Indianapolis. Dallas muso Reid Perry plays Ernie Zwicky, a maintenance man at CUFOS who has a strained relationship with the truth and an attachment to Bill.
Agent Ellis is played by popular Fort Worth singer-songwriter McInroe. “I actually wrote Agent Ellis with Keegan’s voice in mind,” Broyles said.
Jerry Griffin
Broyles said his following is not massive but loyal. Ultimately, he makes things for his fanbase and said he’s grateful when other folks enjoy his work.
Much like Broyles’ other writing and poetry, Dark Forest will be published by The Naïve Theater of the Air, his production house.
“We live in an online era where you can do anything,” he said. “I want to make sure there is weird stuff in the world. It’s like making music. We have freedom to make what we want to make … . I want to tell a cool story, and I just want this to exist.”
