Inform. Engage. Educate. Entertain. Delight

90.1FM106.7FM90.7FM
Now Playing: Loading...
Listen Live!

KZMU Presents: the 2022 Radio Play Festival

February 1, 2022 | By Admin

As we enter our 30th year, KZMU is approaching our annual radio play a little differently. This will be our 7th year presenting live, local, radio theater and in the spirit of auspicious celebration, we’ve got something special planned. 

Instead of writing, producing, and presenting a single radio play with a designated cast and crew, we’re adapting the classic amateur film festival model to allow multiple teams of community members, both local and regional, to create and produce short radio play vignettes. COVID-permitting, these vignettes will be played in front of a live audience, with accompanying live Q&A panels and specially designed visuals. We are really leaning into the radio element of this and emphasizing the engagement of the imagination of the mind and to that end, there will be some visual components of the event, but little to no live acting.

The live event will take place at Star Hall on Saturday, April 9th. In the months leading up to that, KZMU will be offering radio play workshops for both adults and students. 

Click Here for Radio Play Festival Registration

KZMU’s 2022 Radio Play Festival requires no experience and no professional equipment! There are no auditions and teams can be made up of any amount of people – even if it’s just one! This unique format will allow for more accessibility and diversity and for some true radio magic to happen!

Sound like something you want to try? Here are the details you need to know:

  • Not sure how to start? KZMU will offer a free community workshop at the end of February. Stay tuned for details;
  • Registration for teams opens February 1st and closes March 15th, 2022. Final pieces will be due to KZMU by Friday March 25th. Look for the registration link at kzmu.org;
  • A “team” is defined as any one person or group of people committed to submitting a 5-7 minute finished audio theater piece;
  • To qualify as an entry, pieces must adhere to FCC regulations and be appropriate for a wide range of ages. More details will be available at registration link;
  • Entries must also include Foley (hand-made sound effects) and at least one voice. They may also include produced sound effects and original (or copyright-free) music; 
  • Teams will be granted a stipend for production;
  • Teams will have access to professional editing and recording equipment from KZMU;
  • Teams can reserve time with KZMU staff for production support


Whether you want to participate as a team or simply sit back and enjoy some highly creative audio theater, there is a lot to look forward to. Want to get a head start? Contact serah@kzmu.org or call 435-259-8824.

KZMU receives Platinum Selection for Choreomania!

July 20, 2021 | By Admin

KZMU is thrilled to have been selected at one of nine Platinum Award Winners by the HEAR Now Festival for Choreomania, written and directed by Jenna Whetzel!

The Hear Now Festival is a gathering where the work of master storytellers in audio is celebrated and shared. Hear Now also introduces audiences to developments in audio preservation by showcasing restored and archived award-winning audio dramas. Hear Now is the audio equivalent of a film festival for contemporary audio storytelling in all its forms.

You can vote for Choreomania as People’s Choice Winner by clicking the button below! 

VOTE FOR CHOREOMANIA!

KZMU would like to extend gratitude to all of the sponsors, volunteers, and listeners for making this production possible:

STARRING
August Granath…Jürgen
Doni Kiffmeyer…Bishop Leichenberg the Fanatic, King Max
Lisa Grady… Frau Troffea, Hilda, and Old Bertha
Sam Newman… Bruno, Old Man Gunther
Kik Grant… Greta, Barkeep, and Gebhardt

MUSICIANS
Jessica Retka…Piano
Jack Hanley…Percussion

CREW
Jenna Whetzel…Writer, Director
Bob Owen…Sound and Broadcast Engineer
Kate Lloyd…Sound Designer
Josie Kovash…Foley Artist
Serah Mead…Producer, Program Design

SPONSORS
City of Moab
Moab Arts and Recreation Center
Moab Music Festival
Utah Division of Arts and Museums
My Good Fund
WabiSabi
OKOKOK Productions
Canyonlands Copy Center
Moab Music Festival
Red Rock Bakery
Moab Made
Moonflower Coop

And listeners like you!

Choreomania auditions

December 2, 2020 | By Admin

KZMU’s live Radio Play is taking place in late March 2021. It will look and sound a bit different this year as we adapt to stay COVID-safe. For instance, we will not be performing the play in front of a live audience, instead we are going back to the roots of the radio play and performing the play in a three-part episodic journey live over the KZMU airwaves. Read an interview with Jenna Whetzel, writer and director of Choreomania, here. Thanks to Heila and the Moab Sun News.

 

 

AUDITIONS
Saturday, December 12th :: 11 AM Mountain Time CLICK HERE  
(meeting ID if needed: 966 2950 3235)

Sunday, December 13th :: 2 PM Mountain Time CLICK HERE
(meeting ID if needed: 944 2422 2783)

We are holding open auditions via zoom on December 12th at 11 AM and December 13th at 2 PM. There will be a small live cast this year, in order to keep things small, distanced, and safe. But we are planning to feature as many community voices as possible! No experience necessary, no singing required!

To audition, simply join one of the following Zoom meetings promptly at start time and be prepared to read excerpts of the script from your screen, or another screen. You do not need to attend both auditions.

Choreomania is the true story of the phenomenon that came to be known as the “Dancing Plague” of 1518 that occurred in Strasbourg, Germany. One afternoon while baking bread, Frau Troffea went out in the middle of the village center and began to dance. She was soon joined by hundreds of other townsfolk who danced without stopping to eat or sleep. When all was said and done, over 400 were dead from cardiac arrest and exhaustion. This radio show explores possible explanations for this pandemic of dance and draws comparison to current events, proving that political and social turmoil can lead to madness. The audience will join a kooky cast of medieval characters including fools and witches to try and solve the mystery of why hundreds would dance themselves to death!

 

Wormhole! The Musical

February 19, 2020 | By Admin

KZMU is proud to present the 5th annual live radio play on March 7th at 7 PM and 8th 2 PM at Star Hall. Tickets are $15 and available at Canyonlands Copy Center, WabiSabi, and Back of Beyond Books. They’ll be available at the door as long as seats are still available. 

This year’s radio play is special for many reasons. For the past four years, KZMU’s annual theatrical offering has been written and directed by former Station Manager Marty Durlin. Through a grant from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, KZMU has been able create a residency program that provides a stipend for people to create and direct an original radio play for KZMU.

 This year’s production is written and directed by Jenna Whetzel, local writer, activist, and Program Manager at the Housing Authority of Southern Utah. Whetzel performed in the past two KZMU radio Plays as Lottie Funk in Beautiful Radiant Things and Dicketta Privott in Uranium! The Musical. Working tirelessly alongside Jenna, we are lucky to have the talented pianist and composer Jessica Retka. Jessica has been part of the radio play family from practically the beginning, bringing her musical prowess and positive energy. The cast is made up of Jimmy Ferro, Nicole Fox, Sam Newman, Paige Kannor, Steve Proskauer, Lisa Grady, and Doni Kiffmeyer (who also operates Foley with Katie Lloyd). Miriam Graham, Jeff Gutierrez, Bobby Hollahan, Josie Kovash, and Scott Clabby are the orchestra. Joanne Savoie has joined the team again as Stage manager and costume Designer.

Another notable change to this year’s production is an exciting partnership with the BEACON Afterschool Program. Lead by KZMU DJ and Moab Charter School teacher, Casey Bateman, local 5th and 6th graders are learning about the art of Foley, live sound effects, and building the BEACON Wormhole Sound Effect Machine, which will be featured on stage and operated by our foley artists. 

Synopsis 

Wormhole! The Musical It takes place in Anytown, USA in the not too far future. In the first scene we meet Bob Starshine; a sunny, optimistic morning news anchor in Anytown. Though Bob is strident, eager to find the truth and help the world in any way he can,the world’s problems were becoming too heavy for one person to bear. World leaders decide to employ artificial intelligence “Leader Bots” to take over every government agency on earth. 

As Bob becomes aware of the dark intentions of these Leader Bots, so begins the saga featuring Bob and his trusty, yet unexpected team: Athena Applegarden, a rocket scientist, Anna Hunsaker, a noted historian, and Nelson Nargle, a bitter maintenance worker. With Athena’s understanding of nuclear physics, Anna’s historical smarts, Bob’s determinism, and Nelson’s bad attitude they have everything they need to create a wormhole, travel through time, and attempt to save the present by tinkering with the past. 

About the Director

Originally from Virginia, Jenna Whetzel performed in her first musical, Fiddler on the Roof, at age 10 and was hooked. Since then she has acted, written, produced and directed in both theater and film. Here in Moab, Jenna has rediscovered her passion for creating oddball characters, ruthlessly searching for truth in fiction, and that deep meditative state you enter while sketching new worlds with words.

Jenna says, “radio makes people do part of the work in creating a story. When we don’t have pictures to help create setting, plot, and characters; we can do it for ourselves.” 

Wormhole! The Musical is made possible in part by the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, the Val A. Browning Foundation, WabiSabi, and listeners like you. Learn more at KZMU. org.