Cask of Amontillado, The

The Cask of Amontillado was the very first story I ever attempted to record as an audio drama. Back in 2007, before Chatterbox even existed, I invited my friend and collaborator Kyle Hatley to record it with me in my living room, using a few basic microphones and some blankets on the walls to deaden the sound.

The result of that experiment is available for the first time on this page. Not surprisingly, it now sounds hopelessly crude to my ears. But I can also hear in it the enormous enthusiasm and excitement I felt about this art form, so long dormant but absolutely brimming with potential.

How fitting, then, that we wrap up Chatterbox’s ten-year run with a second visit to that dank wine cellar and the maze of catacombs beneath Montresor’s palazzo. Kyle and I got together earlier this year to recreate the story — this time in a much nicer studio setting — and it was as fun and exciting as it was a decade ago. We are releasing both versions of the story on September 14, 2017, ten years to the day after the Chatterbox website first launched.

The 2017 Cask is our 100th Chatterbox release. It will also be the final Chatterbox release for the foreseeable future. (You can read more about that decision in my farewell letter.) But I hope that — in two versions of this demented, twisted tale, and in all the other Chatterbox tales that came between — I have managed to share a little of my passion for audio drama, and a little of that enduring excitement about the possibility inherent in the medium.

I’ll always love audio theater, and I’ll always love Chatterbox. Thank you for helping me discover both.

And, as always, happy listening.

—Robert Arnold