{"id":79545,"date":"2021-11-01T14:39:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T18:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=79545"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:06:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:06:50","slug":"first-ever-radio-play","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/first-ever-radio-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton’s First-Ever Radio Play Hits the Airwaves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton's First-Ever Radio Play Hits the Airwaves\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Like a record scratching to a stop, in-person classes at Carleton came to an abrupt halt in March 2020. Six months later, three students enrolled in a theatre production seminar found themselves facing both a challenge and an opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main assignments in their final year as undergraduates was to create and perform a play, but due to pandemic restrictions, they couldn\u2019t meet to write and rehearse, let alone stage a show in front of a live audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, English<\/a> Prof. Janne Cleveland<\/a>, who coordinates the university\u2019s Drama Studies<\/a> program, and instructor Rebecca Benson<\/a> had a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rachel
Rachel Stanley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The result\u2014A Little Too Maybe<\/em>, Carleton\u2019s first-ever radio play, about a couple falling out of love \u2014will air on the campus-based community station CKCU<\/a> during the annual funding drive<\/a>, along with a three-part documentary about how the unique project came together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a completely new and daunting experience,\u201d says recent graduate Rachel Stanley, who made the play with Jadi Genita and Drew Torresan on her way to an English degree with a concentration in Drama Studies. (Below, clockwise from top-left: Jadi Genita, Rebecca Benson, Stanley, Drew Torresan.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe decided to build a lot of the play around failing communications, because we were all feeling that at the time. But instead of COVID itself, we based it on the feelings<\/i> of the pandemic: loss, uncertainty, worries about not being heard.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t want it to be just about COVID,\u201d continues Stanley.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that the pandemic will pass. But the sense of vulnerability\u2014trying to navigate feeling alone while together\u2014probably will not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Zoom<\/figure>\n\n\n

The Radio Drama Tradition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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A Little Too Maybe<\/em> taps into a long tradition of radio drama, from studio productions in the early 1900s to the chilling audio adaptation of Orson Welles\u2019 War of the Worlds<\/em> in 1938 to contemporary fictional podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio is an old medium, one that\u2019s often overlooking in today\u2019s fast-paced digital and increasingly visual media landscape, but it\u2019s a technology that has re-emerged as a vital form of communication during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kwende
Kwende Kefentse (Photo: Fangliang Xu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s one of the things Cleveland was thinking when she saw a Tweet congratulating Kwende Kefentse on his new role as executive director of CKCU in September 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She got in touch with Kefentse and asked whether the station would be interested in collaborating. His answer\u2014which meshes with CKCU\u2019s goal of strengthening its ties to and presence in the Carleton community<\/a>\u2014was an immediate yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Janne Cleveland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNormally, our students would develop a full production on a stage,\u201d says Cleveland, \u201cso I wondered what could be done through the marvels of technology. Radio is another platform for performance. It can be expansive and draw people in.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat this project really demonstrates to me is the potential for lots of other kinds of performance,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just bound to one form. The only thing that can limit us is a lack of imagination. To me, drama is the embodiment of how characters might try to grapple with issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kefentse is interested in developing more productive and innovative collaborations with the university to amplify connections to the community, as well as the emerging voices of students and the expertise of professors and staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the pandemic, it was difficult to present something to the public beyond people\u2019s individual social media networks,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s something community media like CKCU can offer. We can create a platform so people can access that public square.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Kwende<\/figure>\n\n\n

Falling In Love With Audio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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With guidance and direction from Benson, who has worked as a director and actor throughout Canada and the U.K., Stanley and her two classmates conceived of and crafted A Little Too Maybe<\/em> through regular meetings on Zoom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They did research on different types of virtual theatre and experimented with sound, character, emotion, setting and plot, falling in love with the forced reliance on audio. With web cams turned off, a toilet paper tube tapping on a desk could sound like a woodpecker; falling marbles could sound like the patter of rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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CKCU supplied the equipment and the expertise\u2014and is a conduit to an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional actor John Koensgen<\/a>, a Carleton alumnus and former CKCU radio host who narrates the companion documentary, led workshops on vocal technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a theatre actor, you\u2019re trained to be big\u2014to emphasize your action and words,\u201d says Stanley.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cBut using a microphone, you can whisper, and you don\u2019t really want big movement, because that makes noise. You explore the spaces you\u2019re given.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ultimately, the students came up with a script and recorded the play from their homes. It will air in three 15-minute segments along with the three half-hour parts of the doc on Nov. 2, 9 and 16 starting at 8:05 a.m. each morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now studying at teachers\u2019 college, Stanley hopes to teach high school drama one day and plans to bring the lessons from this experience to her classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cCarleton\u2019s Drama Studies program is so innovative in the way it provides students with opportunities throughout their degrees,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThey find a way for us to create no matter what. The arts can help us show resilience and care, and help us build community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
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Like a record scratching to a stop, in-person classes at Carleton came to an abrupt halt in March 2020. Six months later, three students enrolled in a theatre production seminar found themselves facing both a challenge and an opportunity. One of the main assignments in their final year as undergraduates was to create and perform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":79551,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28],"cu_story_tag":[1920],"class_list":["post-79545","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-arts-and-social-sciences"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/79545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/79545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97576,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/79545\/revisions\/97576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=79545"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=79545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}