Communiqué
Tantrum Theater’s COVID-19 Audio Series Airing on WOUB Radio
< < Back toThe first piece in the series aired on July 9
ATHENS, OH – WOUB Public Media has teamed up with the Tantrum Theater of Ohio University’s College of Fine Arts to bring local theater arts content to the radio airwaves. In May, WOUB broadcast Tantrum’s first ever radio play, a new version of Objects in the Mirror by Distinguished Playwright and Faculty in the School of Theater Charles Smith and directed by Allen Gilmore. This time the two are working together to bring the local African American perspective on COVID-19 to WOUB Radio listeners.
Tantrum is presenting a series of interviews that feature the voices and stories of African American community members in Athens County. The short-form audio series started airing on WOUB stations July 9. The series was created by Smith and is produced in coordination by Tantrum Theater and the Racial Equity Coalition of the Athens Foundation. The interviews were edited by Smith with sound recording and production by Steven Leffue.
Smith is a member of the Racial Equity Coalition; whose mission is to highlight the African American presence in Athens County. In response to the pandemic, this task force shifted from its initial focus on events to finding other meaningful ways to continue their work.
Smith began conducting several interviews with members of the local African American community, using his background in storytelling, to create a series of short audio vignettes about the local African American and African experience.
“While we began with interviews of African Americans living in Athens County, we have expanded our reach to include Africans as well,” Smith said. “I asked each member of the Racial Equity Coalition who had made a suggestion to arrange and conduct the interview themselves. I would supply the coalition member with the questions, giving them an outline from which they could work.”
The partnership is a product of Tantrum Theater’s mission to serve its local and regional community and advance underrepresented voices through the theater arts.
The series airs Thursdays at 7:45 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on WOUB FM.