Audio Drama Debuts: A Forecast of Endless Showers
April hailed a new accumulation of top-notch audio drama
April delivered so many indie audio dramas that I lost count at one point. Together, all this rain fills an ocean, especially with every month so far consistently hitting double-digits. This month, I have a selection of 13 audio dramas, both ongoing and limited run, to fill your bucket. Will you listen to creepy stories in a dark hotel, sing along to funny queer musical romance, or relearn how to breathe in a world attacked by unstoppable fires?
In our continued dedication to the world of audio drama podcasts, this monthly series brings you notable new debuts. Catch up on March’s list here.
A lovely little horror anthology, this one in the style of classic radio show Quiet, Please! With twists and turns in every story, and a creepy ambiance of quietude, everything here feels hushed and frightening. (At least until something jumps out of the serenity of the scenery.)
A young woman named Athena is investigating the reality behind her life on space station UNIR300. She’s a relatable character, anxious and stubborn and confused by the secrets her life and society appear to be veiled in. If you liked Girl in Space, you should check out Athena’s story.
There’s only one way to describe this podcast, and that’s with a series of nouns and adjectives all next to each other: gay romance fairy tale musical screwball comedy. The first episode is a gigglefest of epic proportions, with secondary characters that aren’t just there to take the fall and an ending song that’s both catchy and hilarious.
This slow-burn, weird crime thriller takes place in the Republic of Moya, a strange place that is desolate and icy and whose residents resemble their surroundings. You follow a detective who travels to the outer reaches to investigate two murders, and things only get weirder from there. If you’re looking for the atmosphere of the frigid and gloomy north and slowly creeping dread, Moya will take you there.
This beautifully written dystopia breathes life into a world ravaged by unceasing fires that have destroyed the landscape, civilizations, and the face of the earth. Rhana sets out to try and correct it, to bring back what was lost and restore society to this new world. The writing and narration styles are poetic and smooth against this backdrop of a world where no matter who you are, it’s hard to breathe.
From the creators of science-fiction anthology Theatre of Tomorrow comes a horror anthology set in a hotel you don’t want to check into. With episodes running ten minutes or less, finding ways to fit in creepy encounters without missing the mark or going over the top is hard to pin down, but they succeed with a moody atmosphere and 50s noirish music vibes.
An alternate reality that diverges after World War I, the League of Nations succeeded in global unity and century-long world peace. But at the start of this tale, a citizen begins to experience psychological disturbances he can’t explain nor control. It’s creepy and odd, and a wide-eyed joy to discover just what has changed in this universe.
Massachusetts is a weird place, and Take the Mass Pike capitalizes on living and breathing Massachusetts vibes in an anthology of short stories. The first story is a sequence about a young woman trying to start a podcast for home renovations. Unfortunately, her new house has some … quirks.
The End of Time and Other Bothers
This actual play podcast, from the team that brought you Alba Salix, takes places thousands of years in the future of the Alba Salix universe. It’s a cunningly devised system-storytelling blend made for a focus in improvisation and narrative and low on rolling except when absolutely necessary. It’s wonderfully soundscaped, Sean Howard is a smart and funny DM with three incredible players, and every episode from the introduction to the debrief episodes have a place. Out here in this comedic and thoughtful universe, you’ll have fun trying to fix the end of time.
Not an actual play, but an audio drama based on a role-playing game that occurred in the same universe as actual play podcast Shenanigans, this is a fully sound-designed, voice-acted, scripted performance of that story. It’s got all the action and humor you could want. I was especially enchanted by the care put into filling out the main characters’ personalities and relationships.
Informe Z is a Spanish-language podcast about zombies, how the military and government desperately try to make it look as though nothing has happened, and the lengths one mother will go to in order to save her child. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoyed the book World War Z or the audio drama Marsfall.
Informe Z es un podcast en español sobre zombis, cómo los militares y el gobierno tratan desesperadamente hacerlo parecer como si nada ha ocurrido, y las medidas una madre usará para rescatar a su hija. Lo recomiendo para cualquiera a quién le gustó el libro World War Z o el audio drama Marsfall.
John Coffey Refuses to Save the World (Radiotopia’s Showcase, Errthang)
From Errthang on Radiotopia’s Showcase comes an audio drama about Magical Negroes and whether anyone must fulfill the role someone has given them. John Coffey doesn’t want to go down this path, but the universe could fall apart if he doesn’t use his power. Full of superb acting and tight scriptwriting, you don’t want to miss this work from Errthang hosts Al Letson and Willie Evans Jr.
An audio adaptation of the stage play by Wallace Shawn, this can be found in Intercepted’s podcast feed in three parts of shocking, disquieting regular life under an authoritarian regime. We mentioned this in a recent newsletter; it’s a phenomenal adaptation that makes you feel as though you’re in a theater, watching a play on stage.
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