KZMU Radio’s 2021 radio play “Choreomania,” which was live broadcast over the airwaves this past spring, was selected as a Platinum Award winner by the Hear Now Festival. The annual radio drama shares the honor with eight other audio and podcast features selected by the audio fiction and arts festival.
The radio drama and the other winners can be listened to online, and KZMU Program Director Serah Mead is calling out Moabites to vote for “Choreomania” in the Hear Now People’s Choice awards. See all the winners and vote online at www.natf.org/podcast-palooza_platinum.
The multi-part drama depicts the story of a strange plague that gripped hundreds of residents of Strasbourg, France, in 1518: uncontrollable dancing, to the point of exhaustion and even death for some of those afflicted.
An all-local production, “Choreomania” was written and directed by Jenna Whetzel with musical compositions by Jessica Retka. All 11 characters in the show are voiced by a cast of just five actors: Doni Kiffmeyer, Lisa Grady, Sam Newman, Kik Grant and August Granath. Additional sound and music were contributed by Jack Hanley, Kate Lloyd and Josie Kovash. Sound was engineered by Bob Owens.
The Hear Now Festival is a gathering for audio storytellers, describing itself as “the audio equivalent of a film festival for contemporary audio storytelling in all its forms.”
Normally, KZMU’s annual drama is performed at Star Hall, but due to COVID-19 concerns the performance was limited to a live radio broadcast.
“There is a certain satisfaction in performing this play as a true radio show,” said Whetzel at the time of the performances, “where our audience listens to the story next to their radio or computer and must paint what the story would look like with their minds.”
