This one was, as you can probably tell, recorded live. SVT was meant to be an opportunity for us to perform live as often as possible, but this ended up being the only actual show we did during its short run. I'm very happy with the material and our performance of same... it's just extremely frustrating to try to get people to come to a live show.

Because we performed this live, we rehearsed it a lot. I know this is a thing that most performers do, but it was very unusual for me at this point. I tend to write, record and edit shows quickly so I can get on to the next one. Lingering on any one thing for too long is seriously counterintuitive to my process. All of this being said, I think it shows in the performances.

The basic premise here is pretty obvious: what if Annie was scamming Daddy Warbucks? One of the things we watched for research for SVT was the 1982 movie version of Annie, which had been a favorite of mine as a kid. It... hasn't exactly held up, I'm sorry to say. Also though, Annie seems a bit... entitled at several points in the story, and it didn't seem like too much of a stretch to just make her a con artist.

Bringing back Mrs. Rockaflower (and her husband, who had been offscreen in her first appearance) was less a nod to continuity and motivated more by “why create a second rich lady character when we already have such a good one ready to go?”

For a guy who hates musicals like I do, I've sure written a bunch of them. I was pretty happy with how this song turned out.

My script was pretty good, but the thing that completely elevates this one is, of course, Kara's performance. Her Lil Cindy voice is inherently hilarious, so giving her lines that are even a little bit funny meant that we were pretty much guaranteed to get laughs.

This one did feature live sound effects and I think they turned out pretty well!

I was a bit disappointed in my performance as MacDougal/Brewster. I think I was going for Jimmy Stewart, but I ended up sounding more like Don Knotts. I think this was one of those times where I should have been less involved in performing, because directing was taking up most of my mental real estate.

Men with beards really were treated like terrifying freaks in movies from the 30s and 40s.

Lil Cindy's extra-pathetic material about being a poor orphan is, honestly, some of the best stuff I've ever written. Though, again, at least 50% of that is Kara's delivery.

I don't know where all this MacDougal stuff came from, but I think it worked.

Some of this “people who used to be rich are now servants” business came from My Man Godfrey.

Lil Cindy being able to hone in on each character and tell them exactly what they want to hear was something I worked on for awhile. I don't know that it came through completely, but that's what I was going for.

The way Kristy says “Lil Cindy” cracks me up every time.

“Horses!” was, of course, a reference to Dottie. Nobody in the audience got it. I don't suppose I should have expected them to.

Seriously, this one has some of the best dark humor I've ever written and everyone sells it all so well.