How to Craft an Audio Play

Drawing upon 30 years of professional experience in theatre and broadcasting as an actor, writer, director and producer, Peabody Award-winner Yuri Rasovsky has written a guidebook on how to write, produce and direct audio plays. He writes in detail about everything needed to produce an audio play including the basic studio configuration, gear/instruments/sound effects, the writing process, necessary production team personnel, and the need for professionalism. A work in progress, new chapters on acting, directing and post-production will be added over the next year, thanks to a small grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Audio drama in the 21st Century?
• Overview
• An Ideal Audio Theater Studio
• Lexicon (Glossary)
• Writing Audio Plays
• Script Formats
• Set-up for Performance Before a Studio Audience
• Directorial Hand Signals
• Foley Sound Effects
• Blocking in Stereo
• Production Budget Template
• Further Study

According to Rasovsky, "Audio is the most intensely visual of media precisely because of its sightlessness. It doesn't lack visuals; the audience supplies them. The action takes place, not on some stage in front of the spectator, nor even in some space surrounding the spectator, but within the listeners' minds. The distinguishing task of the audio dramatist is to use sound, language, voice and music to evoke and to suggest - to inspire the listener into becoming part of the theater troupe, into taking on the functions of scenic designer, lighting technician, costumer, make-up artist and special effects technician. No two listeners see the same audio play. The more the audio play stimulates images in the mind's eye, the more intense and personal the listening experience."