The Show Must Go On
With stage lights dark during the pandemic, theater companies are connecting with audiences through podcasting.
Last March, when Kansas State University closed its campus at the start of the pandemic, its theater students were rehearsing a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. They would later learn that the ventilation of the on-campus performance space they’d planned to use, which normally hosts 300–350 people, was considered safe for a maximum of 16, including cast, crew, and audience members.
Jennifer Vellenga, a professor and director of theater at the university, says they chose not to move the production to Zoom, because people were already experiencing Zoom fatigue. “I was trying to think through, how do we maintain teaching the skills that actors need … while also maintaining a storytelling venue?” Vellenga says.
Pivoting to Podcasting
Vellenga had launched an interview-based podcast called Ditch Your Backup Plan in February 2020, so she settled on podcasting as their storytelling venue. In October, Kansas Theater Works (a division of KSU) released Macbeth as a four-part podcast. They even included sounds ripped from an iPad video of a stage combat rehearsal to help bring the story to life.
Shakespeare’s plays are in the public domain, so they didn’t need to license Macbeth. They also released audio performances of works written by alums, since several are now professional playwrights. Vellenga hopes these projects will help prepare current students to do voiceover work in the future.
Audio storytelling is nothing new — just look at the serialized radio dramas popular in the 1930s and 1940s — but the performances of today are far more complex, with better sound quality, writing, and effects than the radio dramas of yore. As more educational and professional theater companies explore this medium, podcasting is primed to become a new way to connect with audiences.
Adapting to Audio
Liz Muller, co-founder of New York-based Pipe Dream Theatre, says she and her collaborator C.E. Simon had produced live, original productions for a decade and wanted to do a radio-style podcast show. But before the pandemic, they were too busy with other projects, including producing their own shows and writing shows for cruise lines. Without time as a hindrance once their work for cruise lines was paused, they translated Three Ghosts, their stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol, into a four-part audio musical.
Because of the audio format, “you have to dictate a lot of what’s going on [instead of showing it onstage],” Muller says. “In our situation, it was a ‘say it and hear it’ situation.” They created new lyrics and orchestrations and assembled a cast of 46 performers from all six of the world’s livable continents, people they knew from previous projects. Muller says it was a learning curve for everyone, because some of the actors had limited experience recording their own audio.
Artists in Conversation
In addition to releasing dramatic performances as podcasts, many theaters like Kansas Theater Works also produce interviews or discussions that give listeners a glimpse behind the curtain.
In April, after pausing its live performances, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater launched a podcast called Half Hour. Audience engagement coordinator and podcast producer Patrick Zakem explains that the podcast is named for “the time that all the actors have to be at the theater in their dressing rooms getting ready. It’s trying to capture the conversational spirit of two actors backstage chatting candidly.”
During episodes of Half Hour (which typically run closer to 40 minutes), members of the Steppenwolf Theater ensemble and others discuss topics like inclusion and advocacy in theater, the path to becoming an actor, and more. Zakem says the podcast format “allows for an intimacy that Zoom rooms and video panels don’t. Voices are in your ears.”
Who Pays for Theaters to Podcast?
Podcasting doesn’t require elaborate sets and costumes like a stage production does, but it does have expenses like recording equipment and hosting. All three of the productions I spoke to for this piece chose to release episodes for free despite these costs.
“We aren’t looking at it as transactional, like ‘listen to our podcast so then you buy a membership,’” Zakem says. “We’re just happy that people are listening.” He adds that Steppenwolf’s podcast has attracted listeners around the world, who might not have the chance to attend a live production in Chicago. Steppenwolf’s podcast is underwritten by current donors.
Vallenga says Kansas Theater Works included a call to action on the podcast encouraging people to donate the cost of a theater ticket back to the theater program if they’d like. “There were a few people that did that,” she says, “but that wasn’t our biggest mission.”
Pipe Dream Theater has a Patreon page, but Muller says the project is primarily self-funded by her and Simon. “The hope is that eventually maybe there are sponsors,” she says. “Our podcasts are just because we want to share our stories.”
Will Theater Podcasts Go On?
As numerous theaters await the day when they can safely welcome a live audience, it raises the question of whether their audio output will continue. Muller and Zaken say yes, although perhaps not at their current pace.
“We are going to continue to do these even when theaters reopen,” Muller says. “I’m a teenager of the nineties and my God, did I listen to the soundtracks to death! To present a musical in its full form via podcast would be really cool.
The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.
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