In the Spring 2025 semester, 草莓视频 College students from a variety of majors had the opportunity to explore a completely non-visual medium: audio drama.
Taught by Liberal Arts faculty Kevin Cooley, Audio Storytelling and Podcasting combines creative writing, sound design, and podcasting鈥攍essons he鈥檚 personally experienced while making his own fictional podcast, The Backrooms: Silverfish.
鈥淭he class is an absolute blast to teach,鈥� said Cooley, who offered this initial course to showcase audio drama as an accessible storytelling medium capable of reaching large audiences, while also fielding course feedback from the students themselves.
鈥淚 wanted to share what I鈥檝e learned with 草莓视频 students, and help them thrive in this strange, wonderful medium that somehow feels as digital and futuristic as it does antique and vintage.鈥�
Part of the appeal, both for Cooley and his students, is the way audio drama empowers independent creators to make potentially lucrative and widely popular projects on a relatively low budget.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no guarantee of profit, of course,鈥� said Cooley. 鈥淭he bulk of audio dramas produced are independent ones, and you never know what is going to flop and what is going to bring in big ad revenue or a wave of Patreon support. But some audio drama creators are certainly making it happen鈥攅specially with the help of distributor networks like Bloody FM, Fable & Folly, and Rusty Quill. And with their varied skills in media editing, image creation, and storytelling, 草莓视频 students are in a particularly good position to make and market audio drama.鈥�
Many students were struck by the sheer volume and variety of fictional podcasts currently being produced. 鈥淚 learned about a lot of different creators and broadened my understanding of the audio drama field,鈥� said Mikayla Query 鈥�27, Computer Animation. 鈥淲hat surprised me was how varied these creations were and how heartfelt they each were in their different ways. One day you鈥檙e in space and the next you鈥檙e in Ireland!鈥�
Sarah Lewis 鈥�27, Computer Animation, said she had a longstanding interest in podcasts, but she 鈥渁lmost always thought of the medium as a series of hidden gems rather than an active industry.鈥�
And after actively creating their own audio drama podcasts in the Creative Writing class, the students were enlightened and energized by the experience. 鈥淚t’s a little funny. There’s not a lot to be surprised with,鈥� said Olly Giangrandi 鈥�25, Illustration. 鈥淵ou talk about podcasts, work with audio, you voice act or have other people voice act, and you give each other feedback on scripts. Knowing this, however, is different from doing it.鈥�
鈥淎s storytellers, we tend to talk a lot about a character’s 鈥榲oice,鈥� how they think and feel, what defines them,鈥� said Lewis. “There’s something unique about how literal this idea of 鈥榲oice鈥� becomes while working in audio fiction that is especially intimate as a listener. Getting to hear my characters come to life was something I found exciting and powerful.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the students found lessons in audio drama that they could then apply to their own chosen media and specialties. 鈥淭his class has affected how I write stories now,鈥� said Giangrandi. 鈥淲hen you only work with audio, you have to learn to play with its strengths. I’m studying to be a graphic novelist, and despite it being a purely visual medium, sometimes thinking about what it’d sound like in a podcast brings new ideas. It’s easy to just say that this is a 鈥楶odcast class,鈥� but it’s also a class that challenges the students’ storytelling abilities in a unique way.鈥�
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