Quite a Year!

My family’s been through losses and heartaches in the last year or so, as so many others have (2020 being what it was). And it’s easy for me to get fixated on all the sad times in my personal world …

But the other day someone asked me how things have been going for me as a writer, teacher, performer, and so on … and it encouraged me to take stock.

And guess what? Professionally this had been a freakin’ amazing few months:

In audio drama (as a writer, performer, and/or producer)…

(September 2020) My adventure serial Relativity (https://relativitypodcast.com/) concluded with its climactic 60th episode with 27,000 downloads on the day of release — a record for the series. In the following months, Relativity

was NOMINATED for a Hugo Award (Dramatic Long-Form, Any Medium)
was NOMINATED for an Audio Verse Award (Best Dramatic Serial)
WON Telly Award, Voice Acting (Bronze) for Lee Shackleford
WON Telly Award, Voice Acting (Bronze) for Alana Jordan
WON HearNow Audio Festival, People’s Choice (Platinum)
WON AVA Digital Award, Audio Production (Platinum)

(January 2021 – present) On the brilliant comedy series Oz-9 (oz-9.com), I have been providing the thundering voice of the oddly lovestruck Roman god Pluto and have apparently become something of a fan favorite.

(May 2021- present) I’m also the Rod-Serling-esque Narrator of the horror podcast serial The Weird (https://www.jointheweird.com/).

In other podcasting…

In non-fiction podcasting, I’m also a co-host on two shows:

(2016-present) Discussing Who (a weekly discussion of a particular episode of Doctor Who)
(2007-present) Theatrically Speaking (an irregular discussion of playwriting)

As a playwright …

The play disconnect, (see it at https://vimeo.com/490049125) which I wrote in collaboration with a group of amazing young people at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was:

(February 2021) honored by our region of the KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival) with inclusion in the Region IV Festival
then (May 2021) honored with inclusion in the KCACTF National Festival, and
(May 2021) named as a recipient of the KCACTF Citizen Artist Award recognizing works which address contemporary social issues (May 2020), and also
(May 2021) cited by them as “Special Achievement in Company-Generated Work”

(Current) My play R.U.R., the modern adaptation of Karel Čapek’s 100-year-old classic of the same name, is in pre-production at Miami University in Ohio — as an audio drama. I wrote the “radio” adaptation myself and it will be first performed before a live audience on October 15, 2021.

(February 2021) Four of the “living history” plays that I wrote on commission for Vulcan Park and Museum were performed and recorded for video distribution:

Washington and DuBois: A Matter of Conscience
Too Many Questions: An Evening with Virginia Durr
Alvin Vogtle Escapes!
Pattie and Josephine, Waiting In Alabama

(August 2021) I have received another commission from Vulcan Park and Museum, this time for a play about local civil rights hero Fred Shuttlesworth.

(August 2021) I was invited back for the fifth year in a row to the guerilla-theatre event (and local arts fundraiser) Hickory Playground, where I was commissioned to write, direct, and stage a script in 48 hours total. The result was “Evening Commute,” lauded as a fan favorite.

(Current) I was asked to write a super-short piece for the online venture Tiny_Theatre, resulting in the play “One of Us is Empty Inside,” which will receive its world premiere on September 29th, 2021.

As a screenwriter…

(June 2021) My screenplay Powers of Darkness was a Quarterfinalist in the prestigious STAGE 32 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Screenwriting Competition.

As a writer of non-fiction …

(January, 2021) Writing with my colleagues Kyle Jones and Clarence Brown, I contributed a scholarly chapter, “The Doctor Changes but the Feelings Stay the Same,” to the book Real Characters: The psychology of parasocial relationships with media characters, published by Fielding Graduate University Press. Available on Amazon.com.

And in leadership and service …

(May 2021) I’m now the Chair for Region IV of the KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival) NPP (National Playwriting Project)
(December 2020) And, unrelated, I’m also the webmaster for the KCACTF Region IV website (https://www.kcactf4.org/), for which I designed and implemented a complete multi-page overhaul. In appreciation of the quality of work there …
(July 2021) … I was sought as a consultant on the new national-level site for the NPP (currently in development).

In terms of public speaking and invited teaching, I …

(February 2021) Taught a UAB Masterclass via Zoom): “The Essentials of Screen Narrative” (See it on Vimeo).
(March 2021) Presented at PodFest International: “One Secret to Powerful Storytelling” (See it on Vimeo).
(March 2021) Was the featured speaker at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba Valley (in a drive-in service, where I spoke from the bed of a pickup truck), where my talk was entitled “The One Constant” (See it on Vimeo).
(May 2021) Guested on the podcast Ignorance was Bliss, a heartfelt discussion host Kate Wallinga cheekily called “Doing Everything Wrong” (Listen to it here).
(May 2021) Was an invited panelist on the WHOlanta discussion “The Fourth Doctor” (See it on Facebook)
(July 2021) Guested on the podcast Write Now!, hosted by multiple-award-winning audio-drama writer, performer, and producer Sarah Rhea Werner. (Listen to it here.)
(August 2021) Was an invited speaker at the Sherlockian conference Scintillation of Scions, presenting a talk entitled “You Really Are an Automaton.” (See it on Vimeo.)

So, yeah. In these terms, I’ve had kind of an awe-inspiring year …!

Thanks to, I hasten to say, people like Roy Lightner and Alana Jordan and Jamie Cottle and and and … well, if I start listing people I’m sure I’ll forget somebody important, but you know who you are. I’ve had a great year, yes, but I have by no means done all of these things alone! I am grateful to you all.

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