Radio drama is alive and well at Duke University in a class led by theater studies assistant professor Daniel Foster. His course on "The Theater of the Mind" is taking students back to the golden age of radio when the medium was one of the primary sources of dramatic and comedic entertainment for the country.
Foster has students produce and perform in a variety of radio dramas. Some are radio translations of recent stories, including this one from Neil Gaiman, while others involve performances of stories from major authors such as Herman Melville. Still others, such as this story from Hollywood director Blake Edwards, or this one from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," are reproductions of old radio or TV shows.
Recently, the class did a production of the first episode of Douglas Adams' acclaimed BBC radio series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Later turned into a series of novels, a TV series and a movie, "Hitchhiker's Guide" begins with the destruction of the Earth. Things go downhill from there. To listen to the broadcast, click here. The show is performed and produced by students Cindy Blohm, Isel Del Valle and Taylor Searles.
To listen to all of the shows, click here.
Foster has recent grants from the Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) to use technology in new ways. The students work with iPods, both to listen to classic radio dramas and to record their own. (Read a CIT feature on the class here.)