website: http://immunitiesdrama.com
email: immunities@hamletseries.com
facebook: immunities
twitter: @immunitiesdrama
status: Seasons 1 thru 5 are live. Season 6 premieres September 22nd, 2021.
trailer: season one – season two
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About I M M U N I T I E S
Immunities is a science fiction / suspense audio drama podcast available free for audio streaming and download from Dueling Genre Productions via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and directly from the Dueling Genre website.
Plot
Present-day Earth has been irradiated with a alien energy that has turned 99% of the population into communal beings bent on converting everyone they can find. This energy is transmitted by eye contact, and the unaltered refer to those infected as Lookers.
The Lookers were surprised to find that 0.05% of humans are to some extent immune to the energy. Rather than fight these humans, they have agreed to a truce wherein those not yet affected are left alone, and the immune are allowed to live in their former homes with their Looker friends and families, people who are in some ways like those they once knew, and in some ways completely different.
Complete scripts and a glossary of terminology are available on our Immunities Background page.
Select Recurring Characters
ROXANNE SCHOLL, the lead character, is a young woman who has been living with her Looker family for three months when the series begins, trying to find her place in the world. She is played by Michelle Limon, a stage actress regularly starring in plays by Chicago’s Coffee & Whiskey Productions (that’s her being dipped).
SHELLY SCHOLL is Roxanne’s sister, a Looker until the night the series begins, when she appears to have changed back to normal, which throws Roxanne into a turmoil of doubt and hope. Rachel Krueger plays her.
MAJOR JEFFERSON CRAIG is the leader of the local anti-Looker resistance, who has his own crisis while trying to evaluate Roxanne’s experience. Vincent Truman plays him.
CARRIE KRAY is a local news broadcaster, partly immune but still aligned with the Lookers. She plays a small role as a derided (but dangerous) collaborator in the first season, but a more active one in the second. She is played by singer and musical-theater actress Stacey Tappan.
CREATORS
Immunities was written specifically for the podcast format by director / producer Bob J. Koester, who first worked in the audio drama medium with the lauded one-hour play Companions, and also recently wrote the science fiction novels Insistent Oracles and Legacy Door.
Season five is the first one written by an outside writer: Jacqueline “Jax” Bryk (she/her) is a writer, political administrator, and trauma survivor from Delaware. Before working on Immunities, she worked mostly on analog role-playing games, including Vampire: the Masquerade 5e, Exalted 3e, They Came From Beneath The Sea!, Fading Suns, After The War, KULT: Divinity Lost and Tragedies of Middle School. Her primary focus is horror, though she enjoys a bit of heartwarming pastoral fantasy from time to time, and she believes that horror occupies an important role in managing and healing from trauma of all kinds.
Much of the music used in Immunities was created by composer/artist Ars Sonor, who retired from music after attacks on their gender identity.
The Immunities main image and most of the episode images were created by Instagram artist FraunFraun (also known on DeviantArt as CharmaineCheese). The second season ep 2.2 & 2.3 images are by Instagram / DeviantArt artist Kevissimo. Season three’s images were from photographer / artist / model Marina Coric.
PRODUCTION
Immunities season 1 was recorded in the late spring of 2017, entirely in Chicago at Riverside Studio. Koester then approached Dueling Genre Productions, creators of the audio drama Geek By Night as well as many film-related podcasts, and they agreed to add Immunites to their lineup.
The first episode was released at noon on Wednesday, July 5th of 2017, with the five subsequent episodes of Season 1 released weekly thereafter. The second season was recorded at the same location in December 2017, and the first episode was released at noon on Wednesday, March 14th, 2018, with five more episodes released weekly thereafter.
Between the two seasons there were several hiatus episodes, including a “soundtrack album” of the music used in Season 1, a serialized version of Koester’s audio play Companions, and episodes about inspirations, progress, and reactions around the internet. Similar hiatus episodes followed subsequent seasons.
RECEPTION
A finalist for the 2018 Parsec Award for Best New Speculative Fiction Podcast.
One of “9 Fiction Podcasts That Are Just As Entertaining As Any Audiobook” – Bustle.
“Check out Immunities if you want to give yourself a good scare!” – Geek Girl Authority
“This slow-burn season from the Immunities team worked, especially when following the intense, hard ride that was season one.” – Audio Dramatic
“Science fiction and thriller meet real life in this unique podcast.” – The Mission’s list of the 25 Best Fiction Podcasts.
One of the Bello Collective’s “Indie Audio Dramas You Should be Listening To in 2018“.
“It’s an excellent voice cast, with the grizzled commander, spirited academic and rebellious teens. They’ve got sparky dialogue, and are all written pleasantly distinctively.” – The Cambridge Geek
Immunities received a positive 8/10 writeup from Little Human Reviews.
Immunities has just under a 5-star (highest) average rating at iTunes / Apple Podcasts. User reviews include…
“It’s part invasion of the Body Snatchers, part political story about living in an occupied nation. The lead actress is particularly strong, Can’t wait to see where this goes.”
“This podcast will make you stay in the car until the episode is over.. and then maybe not want to get out. Amazing performances all around.”
“Great music, writing that’s got me hooked, and good sound effects…”
RESOURCES
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