ERC Launches A New Audio Drama Division:
With the onset of the pandemic, ERC created a new Audio Drama Division. A natural fit for the ERC aesthetic, audio brings our unique productions to a wider audience. From its repertoire of over 40 original plays, ERC has chosen a sampling of works for its audio launch. These plays are perfectly suited for audio production because they were virtually conceived of as a listening theater. ERC is also premiering new works in our Audio Drama division.
Vanessa Redgrave starring as Anna Akhmatova
Anna Akhmatova: The Heart is Not Made of Stone
NEW AUDIO DRAMA
Passion. Politics. Poetry. Philosophy. Amid the devastation of postwar Soviet Union, the legendary poet Anna Akhmatova finds herself a target of Stalin’s merciless campaign to control Russia’s cultural life, with the KGB following her every move. Akhmatova: The Heart is Not Made of Stone tells the haunting tale of two cultural giants---the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova and the British philosopher Isaiah Berlin and their fateful meeting, tinged with romance and risk, which set off a flood of repercussions that had unforeseen and cataclysmic consequences.
Starring Vanessa Redgrave as Anna Akhmatova and Paul Hilton as Isaiah Berlin. Audio script and music design by Eve Wolf. Directed by Donald T. Sanders. Audio production by Allegra Productions.
Stephen Fry starring as Tchaikovsky
None but the Lonely Heart: Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda
NEW AUDIO DRAMA
In an unusual relationship that lasted fourteen years and was conducted exclusively through letters, Tchaikovsky and his patroness Nadezhda von Meck were united through the invincible power of a disembodied love in which they both found refuge. Plagued with doubts about the greatness of his music, tormented by the fear of discovery of his homosexuality, and trapped in a marriage to a woman who was eventually committed to an insane asylum, Tchaikovsky found in von Meck an “invisible angel”.
Starring Stephen Fry as Tchaikovsky and Vanessa Redgrave as Nadezhda von Neck. Audio script and music design by Eve Wolf. Directed by Donald T. Sanders. Audio production by SueMedia.
Thibault de Montalembert starring as Jules Verne.
Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon
NEW AUDIO DRAMA
Nellie Bly, the enterprising 25-year-old American journalist, became an international celebrity when she embarked on a voyage around the world to beat the record of Phileas Fogg, the fictional hero of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. They said a woman couldn't do it, but Bly proved them wrong— even taking precious time out for a surprise detour in France to meet the aging Verne. The meeting of these two unlikely kindred spirits, both unafraid to explore the unknown, inspires a sumptuous audio drama that takes you to the moon and back.
Starring Thibault de Montalembert as Jules Verne, Hélène Babu as Honorine Verne, and Meghan Picerno as Nellie Bly. Audio script and music design by Eve Wolf. Directed by Donald T. Sanders. Audio production by SueMedia and Tara Prem.
Playwright Ken Green
July 5th
New Audio Drama: Available for Listening!
July 5th, by playwright Ken Green, in collaboration with music designer Eve Wolf, is inspired by real events and real people in American history. The drama unfolds on the very day Douglass is writing and preparing to give what would become his famous speech: “What to the Slave is the 4th of July.” The play’s action is interwoven with a musical program that situates the culture of Black America front and center. Works by African-American composers include hip-hop, contemporary classical orchestral and choral works, 20th-century minimalism, and updated traditional spirituals. Partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, this work is in pre-production, and will be recorded in the coming months.
As our country continues to struggle with the legacy of slavery and the continued oppression and persecution of African-Americans and other minorities, the story of Douglass’s complete and utter triumph over America’s institutionalized horror and human degradation is more timely than ever.
Audio production by SueMedia.
For access to our study guide please click here: Educational Resources