With respect to the great Kevin Hartnell’s list of best audio drama of all time, he may be adding a number of new features.
We already identified The Three Ages of Modern Audio Drama and now it would be best to identify a fourth. The third age roughly started in 2012 and can be definitively seen as ending in 2019. In 2020, as COVID-19 reintroduced the world to the term- pandemic, a number of professional actors, writers, and producers found themselves with a lot of time on their hands and a lot of creative thoughts bulging in their brains.
The Faustian Nonsense Network soon found creative outlets in A Midsummer’s Quarantine and producer, writer, and actor extraordinaire, Tom Konkle from Mindstream Players found new life in reworking Old Time Radio scripts and new originals on YouTube. And they are not alone, many groups around the world unable to launch stage productions have worked together to create online audio drama shows. Quarantine Radio Theater out of St. Louis even considered that a part of their name. Here in Halifax, Keith Morrison from Lion’s Den Theatre has also reworked popular theatre productions into online audio theatre equivalents.
With an influx of so many professionals from both Little Theatre and Hollywood engaging in the world of audio drama. How will this change the landscape of stories that are produced? Will we see more classics launched? Or will there be a number of new original plays taking flight on RSS feeds and video channels near you?
We’re betting on both!
