Two Audio Drama Adaptations from Wallace Shawn And Three New Works by Mac Rogers Announced
Titles include The Designated Mourner, Grasses of a Thousand Colors, Give Me Away, and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz May. 05, 2021
Gideon Media will premiere multiple scripted fiction podcasts beginning in June, with distribution from public media organization PRX. These new series will be offered free on-demand to listeners across all platforms where podcasts may be found.
Gideon Media's new podcast slate will kick off with two unnervingly prescient plays from celebrated playwright Wallace Shawn and director André Gregory. These productions will reunite the legendary duo behind My Dinner with André and Vanya On 42nd Street to reimagine two of Shawn's finest plays for the world of audio drama.
The season will also feature three new series by audio-fiction juggernaut and acclaimed playwright Mac Rogers, director Jordana Williams, and producer Sean Williams. This team previously collaborated on the noir science thriller podcast, Steal the Stars, which garnered 2 million downloads and was a 2019 Audie Award finalist for Best Audio Drama, as well as a the science fiction stage saga The Honeycomb Trilogy, which received three New York Times Critics' Picks and was one of The Guardian's top 10 New York shows of 2015.
"We're thrilled to debut our slate of new shows with distribution support from PRX, who are known for supporting boundary-pushing audio creators," said Gideon Media co-founder Mac Rogers. "It's a particular honor for us to be bringing the work of playwright Wallace Shawn, long beloved by theatergoers, to a wider audience through the medium of audio."
"Gideon Media are masters of their craft, and they continue to help elevate the possibilities of audio drama," said Jason Saldanha, Chief of Business Development and Content at PRX. "PRX is proud to help bring these new entertaining, highly creative podcasts to listening audiences everywhere."
New podcasts from Gideon Media with distribution by PRX will include the following, beginning this summer:
The Designated Mourner
Written by Wallace Shawn, Directed by André Gregory
Something's happening in the country where Jack lives. There's violence in the streets. Leaders are being replaced. Public life is transforming. The government is cracking down on anyone suspected of subversion. But Jack - consumed with his atrophying marriage to Judy, his corrosive envy of his famous poet-intellectual father-in-law Howard, and his disintegrating sense of self - barely notices. As the once-liberal society around him descends into authoritarianism, Jack plunges into his own parallel decline, a chilling abdication of everything he once valued.
Premieres June 25
Grasses of a Thousand Colors
Written by Wallace Shawn, Directed by André Gregory
In Wallace Shawn's most disturbing and dreamlike drama, a doctor invents a groundbreaking nutrient intended to end world hunger. Instead it radically transforms the food chain, chemically disrupting animal and human bodies, leading to a global illness and outbreaks of disturbing behavior. Isolated from the worst of it by his wealth, the doctor loses himself in a series of tumultuous relationships with his wife Cerise, his mistress Robin, and his girlfriend Rose. A cat called Blanche, who leads him into an enchanted world of bizarre eroticism, also figures crucially in the drama. Premieres July 9
Give Me Away
Written by Mac Rogers, Directed by Jordana Williams
They call the spaceship that crashed in the Nevada desert "The Ghosthouse" because it screams - the screams of thousands of extraterrestrial political prisoners uploaded into its horrific mainframe. The only way to free them... is to transfer them into the bodies of humans willing to share their minds with an alien second consciousness. But who would volunteer for that? Graham Shapiro, divorced and adrift at age 50, is one of the first to raise his hand. Give Me Away follows Graham's journey into a world of radical hospitality, one which will touch everything - and everyone - in his life.
Season One, Part 1: July 16, July 23, July 30 & August 6.
Season One, Part 2: September 17, September 24, October 1, October 8 & October 15
The Earth Moves
Written by Mac Rogers, Directed by Jordana Williams
People tune into Brent Ziff's radio show to hear him make fun of losers. But tonight's loser, Leo Short, is calling with a message straight from the bowels of the Earth that's going to put everything Brent knows on shaky ground. The Earth Moves is a real-time
dark comedy about how even the most unwanted schmuck can still make waves.
August 13 & 20
God of Obsidian
Written by Mac Rogers, Directed by Jordana Williams
You have to cross a bridge to get to Nathan's house. Crossing in is easy. But crossing out - as Alice is about to discover - is almost impossible. God of Obsidian is a dark fairy tale about gaslighting which follows a woman desperately seeking the story that will take her back across the perilous bridge to freedom.
August 27, September 3 & September 10
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