WIUX and University Players collaborated to record WIUX Radio Drama, which will air on 99.1 FM after the holiday and will stream online at wiux.org/stream. Alex Goodman, director of educational outreach for UP, said the collaboration stemmed from UP’s campus outreach workshops and events.
“Radio drama gives directors and playwrights the chance to work with a new medium,” Goodman said. “Voice acting is such a new and exciting field for actors, and this is a wonderful opportunity for them to get experience that isn’t really afforded in many other places.”
The show was recorded in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center with a live audience, who was directed to alternately applaud and stay silent by way of a double sided sign.
UP actors read “How I Learned to Love My Gay Voice” by Indiana Daily Student reporter Matt Bloom, “Death by Write-Out” by Nicholas Fattore, “5322” by Devin May and “The Venusian Candidate” by Kathryn de la Rosa. All of the authors are IU students, and the plays were directed by IU students Brian Berger, Bryant Mehay and Alec Steinmetz.
Janie Johnson, a voice actor in “How I Learned to Love My Gay Voice,” said the audio-only format of radio drama is more challenging for the audience to follow along with than traditional theater acting, but the subject matter is interesting enough to keep the audience engaged.
“I think ‘How I Learned to Love My Gay Voice’ is really interesting, because you never think about that voice inside everyone’s head and how it might be discouraging to some people,” Johnson said. “I didn’t realize that that was an internal struggle that people go through.”
The plays are a mix of comedic and more serious matter, WIUX station manager Sarah Thompson said. She said one of her favorite things about radio drama is that it brings people together.
“When radio drama started, everyone was listening to the same programs,” Thompson said. “It made a community across the nation that was joined together. People have to be immersed in the story of it rather than any visual distractions.”
Each voice actor had to portray a story simply by using their voice, becoming different characters with a simple accent change.
“Visual is all that we’re used to now,” said Berger, who directed “Death by Writeout.” “Without the visual, you’re relying on their inflections and sounds, which is something people aren’t used to. It’s nice to have really good actors that can get a point across with just their voices.”
Thompson said they hope to make the radio drama event an annual one, with more student written plays and interested student directors and actors each year.
“This medium is not one that almost any of the people that you see today have experience in,” Goodman said. “For both the live audience and for anyone listening to the recording, I hope that they’ll fall back on the power that audio has to tell stories. Voices and sounds are so impactful, and I hope that everybody will enjoy that tradition.”
