Audible Inc., the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, has just released a new slate of Audible Original theater titles, to continue to deliver the theater experience to a worldwide listening audience, as part of Audible’s ever-growing content of more than 700,000 audio programs from leading audio-book publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. The six new releases include three original plays that were recorded straight to audio, and three that were first performed at the Minetta Lane Theatre, Audible’s Off-Broadway creative home for live entertainment.
Since June 2017, a core component of Audible’s theater initiative has been its $5 million Emerging Playwrights Fund, dedicated to supporting and developing innovative English-language works by self-identifying emerging playwrights from around the globe, driven by language and voice – a mission that is in keeping with its central commitment of elevating listening experiences through vocal storytelling. Two of the new releases were funded by that program and are now making their debut on audio.
In Daddies by Paul Kruse, Joseph, who is having a comically tough year, questions why anyone would bring a child into this calamitous world, until an intriguing new online connection with an attractive internet “daddy” has him rethinking his isolation – and thinking again when a series of revelations make him face even bigger decisions about his future. Exploring family dynamics and relationships, the 91-minute audio-play is narrated by Piper Goodeve, Gabriel Vaughan, Hale Appleman, Ken Bolden, Barbara Chisholm, Sydney Harcourt, Jennifer Kidwell, Karina Kruse, Mark Linn-Baker, Mary Poole, and Tonilyn A. Sideco.
Christopher Chen’s The Podcaster, voiced by Ato Blankson, Corey Stoll, Erin Markey, Michael Braun, Peter Kim, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, and Stacey Yen, takes a meta-look at podcasting, diving into ideas of authorship, sensationalism, and who controls our stories, through an unpredictable trip into how storytelling can reshape what we believe about ourselves and others. When Sylvia Chang – host of a popular radio series that features interviews with pioneering artists – goes missing, her listeners are left to wonder if this is also an art piece. As the journey continues, the mysteries multiply in this mind-bending 92-minute investigation of the very nature of reality.
The third new straight-to-audio release is Bernarda’s Daughters, a co-production from Audible and Off-Broadway’s The New Group. Written by Diane Exavier and narrated by the cast of Amara Brady, Jasmin Walker, Lorraine Toussaint, Malika Samuel, MaYaa Boateng, and Zenzi Williams, the drama, inspired by Federico García Lorca’s 1936 classic The House of Bernarda Alba, offers a current 94-minute examination of family, secrets, and concepts of public and private grief during a hot summer in Flatbush, while confronting issues of class, race, gentrification, and where a woman’s place is in a rapidly changing world.
In addition, three plays that premiered on the Minetta Lane stage are also now available for streaming on Audible, all featuring female stories of self-acceptance and a sense of identity: And So We Walked, a personal account of Cherokee history and experience, written and performed by DeLanna Studi (running two hours and 15 minutes); Approval Junkie, a one-woman 90-minute memoir created and delivered by Faith Salie, in collaboration with Amanda Watkins (click here for my review of the stage production); and The Fever, a 90-minute soul-searching stream-of-consciousness rumination on socio-economic disparity, written by Wallace Shawn and performed by Lili Taylor (which I also reviewed in person at Minetta Lane).
For the full catalogue of Audible Theater audio-plays, visit the website.
