The Reading Warehouse

The Grand Prize winner of HarperCollins's audio drama contest. By turns amusing and angst-filled, this well-paced production is a good choice for fans of full-cast audios (AudioFile).

All Alex Dassan needs to do is win second place in the debate team finals. The second place prize is a trip to the Nottingshire Retreat in London where she'll have a chance to take a class with her writing idol, Mary Noelle Simmons. Alex knows that once she meets Mary her life will fall into place and her dreams of becoming a writer will be possible (and less scary). Nothing is going to stand in Alex's way--especially not a dad who's never home and a mom who left to go find herself in India. The only problem: with minutes before the competition and a missing debate partner, Alex is feeling a little desperate.

All Jeremy Beekman needs to do is pass AP Biology. If Jeremy passes then he can get into medical school, become a doctor in 10 years, and keep his family together--he won't disappoint his parents the way his brother did. The only problem: Jeremy spends more time on art and the AV Club than on his homework.

When Alex and Jeremy run into each other (literally ) before the debate team competition, they make an arrangement--if Jeremy helps Alex win the debate team finals then Alex will tutor Jeremy in biology. What could go wrong?

What starts as an academic arrangement soon turns into a friendship where absent parents and burdensome expectations are confronted, dreams are dreamed bigger, and the debate team competition stakes are even higher. You may now begin your rebuttal.

Jyotsna Hariharan lives in New York and is originally from Madurai, India. After a few years in advertising and marketing, she realized she would never find enough synonyms for empower, and decided to move to New York to pretend to be a writer. When she's not juggling grad school, crippling introversion, and trying not to go broke, she enjoys trivia nights, television, and being a New York stereotype who is infuriated by slow walkers. She wishes she had a pet or husband to put in her bio, but can afford neither right now. Rebuttal is her first audio drama.

Peter Ganim, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, is an American actor who has appeared on stage, on television, and in film. He has performed voice-over work since 1994.

Phoebe Strole is an actress and an Earphones Award-winning narrator who was a finalist in 2014 for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in drama. She has appeared on Broadway in Spring Awakening and in various films and television series, including Hamlet 2, 30 Rock, Glee, and Rescue Me.

Dan Bittner is an actor and voice talent and winner of several AudioFile Earphones Awards for audio narration. He has starred on stage and on the screen, in movies such as Men in Black, Adventureland, and the Producers: The Movie Musical. He has also appeared onstage as Macbeth and Sherlock Holmes in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Michael Crouch is an actor based in New York City. His audiobook narration has won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, and Best of the Year accolades from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. He can also be heard on national commercials, cartoons, video games, and the anime series Pokemon XY and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V.

During his fourth lecture tour of the United States in 1953, a few days after his 39th birthday, he collapsed in his New York hotel and died on November 9th at St. Vincent's Hospital. His body was sent back to Laugharne, Wales, where his grave is marked by a simple wooden cross.

In June 1994, his wife, Caitlin Thomas, died in Italy, where she had spent most of the years of her life after the death of Dylan Thomas. Her body is buried next to his.