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Be sure to scroll down the page to learn more about HEAR Now and our Featured Artists.
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HEAR Now ONLINE Festival
​Celebrates the Power of the Human Voice

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Creators in the diverse world of audio storytelling will coalesce to celebrate the distinctive appeal of the human voice when the HEAR Now Festival returns as the HEAR Now ONLINE Festival June 11 – 14. Originally scheduled to present live performances in Kansas City, the move to online was made in response to the COVID-19 threat to health and safety.

Highlighting the work of masterful audiobook narrators, audio-play actors, animated-character voice artists, videogame sound performers and other exceptional talents in the audio-fiction field, the eighth annual festival, despite its changed format, aims to deliver world-class entertainment in a wide-ranging and collaborative learning environment.

“The HEAR Now Festival is a unique opportunity . . . to get to know more about the kinds of audio storytelling that are happening in all the different entertainment industries,” said festival president Sue Zizza, who runs a full-service audio production company and teaches recording and sound design at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

“Sound is the foundation, just like writing, for all these different industries,” Zizza said. “And at HEAR Now, just like at many film festivals, we try to celebrate the artists and the work being created at every level.”
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The online festival will feature a full schedule of performances, including what organizers hope will be two high-profile kick-off events:
· “Innovations in Storytelling,” with electric violinist and singer/songwriter Valerie Vigoda. The star of the award-winning off-Broadway musical “Earnest Shackleton Loves Me” performs and talks about her sonic art at the intersection of technology and storytelling.
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·“ASK ED!” — Everything you’ve wanted to know about acting for audio from a guy who works in television. A one-hour Q & A with actor, voice actor and Kansas City, Kansas, native Ed Asner, the former “Lou Grant” of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” fame. Audience members can submit questions from May 15 through June 1 at hearnowsubmissions2020@gmail.com; put “Ask Ed” in the subject line.

A concern of some audio storytellers is that it may only be a matter of time before their voices are replaced by artificial ones. Even if the growing science of synthetic speech is eventually able to persuasively emulate a human soul, an essential element of the storytelling experience would still be in peril, Zizza said.

“While the average listener might not recognize that it’s a computer version of a human voice, the reality is that understanding drops,” Zizza said. “Once we start to get to synthetic voices, we find that we don’t have the same level of instant comprehension.”

In agreement — and with a story to tell — is Peter Gregg, vice president of the HEAR Now Festival and assistant professor in the Department of Emerging Media at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“There currently is still plenty of space and a lot of importance in the contributions of actual human beings actually performing, actually speaking and actually acting,” Gregg said. “And we need to express the value and contribution of human speech in storytelling media.”

With that sound goal in mind, Gregg had his middle-school-age daughter accompany him to last year’s HEAR Now Festival of live performances in Kansas City.

“At first I thought she was going to be bored with me judging stories all day, but she got it right away,” he said. “She had crystal clear opinions about the pieces that she felt really strongly about. It was an amazing point in our relationship — just to be able to sit down and talk about what we heard and recalling sound.

“Later, we went to one of the big showcase evening events, and I laughed like crazy at a bunch of stuff, and it was just a great time. And she turned to me and said, ‘I’ve never seen you laugh so much.’ There’s something immediate and visceral, something wonderful and transcendent about finding a still place in yourself and focusing your attention on listening.”

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE >

Barbara Rosenblat brings voice to “Orange is the New Black” and to Kansas City

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Barbara Rosenblat is one of the most beloved and sought after narrators of audiobooks in the country. Her extraordinary range of accents and abilities over the years has earned her eight coveted Audie Awards from the Audio Publishers Association.  

HEAR Now Festival Programming/Board President Sue Zizza spoke alongside Rosenblat during her interview on FOX 4 News Thursday morning.
Click here to see the interview >
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT AUDIO THEATRE CENTRAL
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One More Day Posts HEAR Now on FACEBOOK Page
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CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE READFUL THINGS BLOG
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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT 'THE CARD'
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CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT BROADWAYWORLD.COM
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CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON-LINE AT RADIOWORLD
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Stories for the Ears: Live Audio Drama and Narration
at The Paley Center for Media - 25 W 52nd St  New York, NY 10019 Directions: (212) 621-6600
Friday, October 18, 2013 – 8:30 PM - 10:00 PM
(Doors open at 8:00 PM – show begins at 8:30 PM)
Limited seating for this one performance.

WIN TICKETS TO THE SHOW!!
To enter the HEAR Now Festival / AES Stories for the Ears Ticket Giveaway for Friday, October 18th, send your name and contact phone to hearnowfestival@gmail.com - be sure to put "Stories for the Ears Ticket Giveaway" in the subject line.
Two pairs of tickets will be given away in a random drawing on Monday, October 14, 2013, at 5pm.
Winners will be contacted by e-mail and phone on Tuesday, October 15, 2013.

Fantasy, Fiction, and Fun!
The HEAR Now Festival and SueMedia Productions, in conjunction with the Audio Engineering Society (AES), presents an evening of live audio/radio drama along with narrative readings celebrating the art of sonic storytelling.

Hosted by Bob Kaliban (CBS Mystery Theater)

Featuring performances by Audie Award winning and Golden Voice narrators Katherine Kellgren, Robin Miles, and Barbara Rosenblat, and the award winning NY based audio drama troupe VoiceScapes Audio Theater.

Bob Kaliban has been a voice actor for more than 40 years, having been a regular on programs like CBS Mystery Theater. Bob has also performed in ads, cartoons (School House Rock), television, movies, on Broadway, video games, and more.

Jim Dale has won a record ten Audie Awards including, “Narrator of the Year 2001/5/7/8,” “Audio Book of the Year 2004,” plus two Grammy Awards and seven Grammy Nominations. He holds two Guinness World Records. 1. Creating 146 different character voices for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” 2. Occupying the first six places in the “Top Ten Audio Books of America” He has performed on Broadway and won a “Best Actor,” Tony Award for “Barnum,” along with five additional Tony Nominations and four Drama Desk Awards. Jim is also an Academy Award Nominee for writing the lyrics for the film title song, “Georgy Girl”

Katherine Kellgren is a multi-Audie Award winning Golden Voice Narrator who is an audiobook fan favorite because of her no-holds-barred portrayals of characters like the irrepressible Jacky Faber (and motley company) in adventures like THE WAKE OF THE LORELEI LEE and THE MARK OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON. Her aptitude with accents is extraordinary. From drunken Scotsman to high-born ladies, Katherine fully embodies all the characters in every book she reads.

Robin Miles began her career as a dancer and actress who found her way to audiobook narration in the early 2000s. An Audie Award winning and Golden Voice narrator her works have included BROTHER, I'M DYING, HALF OF A YELLOW SUN, and ROOTS. Among her stage credits are The Violet Hour on Broadway and Shakespeare, Moliere, Shaw, Euripides, and Brecht at venues like The Public Theater, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Yale Repertory Theatre. Robin is also a voice coach and teacher.

Barbara Rosenblat has been described as “the Meryl Streep of audiobooks” by the NY Times. She is a multi-Audie Award winning and Golden Voice narrator whose extraordinary range of accents and characterizations in a distinguished body of work (more than 400 titles to date) makes her one of the most sought after and beloved narrators of audiobooks in the country. On Broadway, Barbara created the role of 'Mrs. Medlock' in the Tony Award winning musical The Secret Garden. She returned to Broadway in the critically acclaimed revival of Eric Bogosian's dark comedy Talk Radio starring Liev Schreiber. In the gaming world her voice can be heard in Grand Theft Auto. Currently she is a featured cast member on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black (as Miss Rosa)

VoiceScapes Audio Theater is a troupe of audio actors, directors, sound engineers, writers, and producers who perform original works of fantasy, comedy, and more. They will be performing their award winning original audio play It Always Feels Like Monday. Find out what happens when you wake up and it’s not the day you expect it to be? Additionally, VoiceScapes will present the award winning comedy short Best Friends Fornever. And you thought YOU were HER best friend…

Manual live and recorded sound effects and music give VoiceScapes Audio Theater’s performances a ‘cinematic sound’ quality.

The HEAR Now Festival (www.hearnowfestival.org) is the audio equivalent of a film festival for contemporary audio story-telling in all its forms: live and scripted shows, solo and multi-voiced performances, classic radio drama, experimental narrative, and much much more. The Festival happens every June in Kansas City, Missouri.

SueMedia Productions (www.suemediaproductions.com) specializes in Transmedia Storytelling. An Audie Award winning company they create fully realized soundscapes for all of their projects. Additional awards for their audio productions include: The Gracies, Communicator Awards, International Festival of Radio Awards, and many more.

HEAR Now Guest Narrators in the News:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/business/media/actors-today-dont-just-read-for-the-part-reading-is-the-part.html?ref=arts&_r=0 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Mark Time Awards are pleased to be joining HEAR Now in celebrating the ever growing art form of audio story telling.  The Mark Time and Ogle Awards were established in 1996 and are the only world-wide awards dedicated solely to recognizing the best in science fiction/fantasy/horror multi-cast AUDIO DRAMA.   Independent producers from every corner of the United States and around the globe have been honored by Mark Time and have trekked phenomenal distances to appear at CONVergence, Minneapolis's largest science fiction convention, to accept their plaques in person.  Preceding the awards ceremony, every year Great Northern Audio Theatre presents the Mark Time Radio Hour--a live original comedy show written especially for the occasion.  At HEAR Now we will be playing featured selections from winning works by many of the independent audio theater producers who have won Mark Time and Ogle Awards over the past 15 years.

HEAR Now Festivals' Programming to Also Include:

Golden Voices Theater - AudioFile Magazine brings to the HEAR Now Festival a number of award winning "Golden Voice" narrators who will read from some of their favorite books and participate in discussions immediately following each reading throughout the day on Saturday, June 22nd in the Tivoli Theater from 10am - 4:30pm.

ZBS Showcase - Audio Dramatists who have been featured in the ZBS catolgue, and submit their work for consideration to be played at the HEAR Now Festival this June, will be heard as part of the ZBS Showcases on Friday and Saturday.

NATF Playhouse - For those independent audio dramatists whose work is accepted into the Festival, NATF will host listening sessions throughout the day on Friday and Saturday in two main theaters in downtown Kansas City. Award winning NATF performances, from past workshop events, will be showcased as part of the NATF Playhouse as well.

The Binaural Theater - Thanks to Sennheiser HEAR Now will have "Silent Disco Headphones" available for all listeners in this theater. The HEAR Now Festival will present  works recorded in binaural sound and meant to be heard with headphones.

Audio Vaudeville - On Friday, June 21st the HEAR Now Festival will present , a live performance, in front of an audience, in the format of a variety show.  We are currently soliciting “acts” interested in participating. Visit http://www.hearnowfestival.org/live-performance-solicitation-form.html to find out how to present YOUR live performance idea for our Audio Vaudeville show.

Roots - The HEAR Now Festival, recognizing the long history of radio drama and audio story telling in the U.S., will offer a limited amount of programming on Saturday, June 22nd that celebrates the history of our art.

Additional Programming will be updated constantly, so keep checking back!!!

​Rare Live Performance By Firesign Theater Star Phil Proctor

Monday, October 8, 2012
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Phil Proctor
SAN FRANCISCO: Underscoring the diversity of this year’s AES Convention Special Events Track, Poe – A Life And Stories In Sound offers attendees a rare opportunity to see legendary 3-time Grammy-nominated Firesign Theatre star Phil Proctor, in a live, hour-long dramatic audio performance, as writer Edgar Allen Poe. Engaging live and recorded sound effects, with an original score, the production features Proctor dramatizing moments from Poe’s life and passages from the author’s most powerful prose.

cheduled for Saturday, October 27, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Poe – A Life And Stories In Sound will also feature actors Melinda Peterson, Bill Chessman, and Ellen Stewart. The production, underwritten by Sennheiser-Neumann USA, features an original play written, produced and directed by award-winning audio dramatist Sue Zizza, and features sound design by David Shinn, of SueMedia Productions, (www.suemediaproductions.com) with live sound effects performed by Valerie Priest and Suzan Lorraine and recorded playback by Don Priest.

The production, which serves to kick-off the inaugural “HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival” happening in Kansas City, MO from June 20th -23rd, 2013, was coordinated by AES Convention Broadcast/Streaming Media Chair David Bialik to illustrate the diversity of live audio production.
A multi-faceted artist recognized as the inimitable voice of ‘Howard’ on the Emmy-award winning Rugrats, and as iconic characters in such major animated films as Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc., Phil Proctor is an equally accomplished on-and-off Broadway actor. He has performed with LA’s celebrated Antaeus Classical Company with his wife, Melinda Peterson, toured the USSR with the Yale RuCo-starring with Proctor in this exclusive AES production is Melinda Peterson, an audio and live theater pro whose appearances range from multiple roles in Proctor & Bergman’s long-running NPR Power series which aired on John Hockenberry’s Heat, to NPR Playhouse productions, and work with all-star casts on We Hold These Truths and Empire Of The Air for Other World Media. Later this year, she will reprise her lead role of Agatha Christie in The BBC Murders. 

Phil Proctor and Melinda Peterson will perform, Poe – A Life And Stories In Sound, at the 133rd AES Convention, in SF’s Moscone Center, on Oct. 27th from 8 pm – 9 pm.
 
For a detailed Preliminary Calendar of AES Convention events visit: 

http://www.aes.org/events/133/calendar/calendar.cfm

World War 1: Voices and Stories from the Front

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This free, family-friendly storytelling event is presented by the National Audio Theatre Festival as part of the HEAR Now Festival: The Audio Fiction & Arts Festival presents World War 1: Voices and Stories from the Front, Join Raymond Starzmann, as President Harry S. Truman, for this engaging program of original stories, remembrances and more from the Great War!
learn more about world war I
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​Actress brings her dulcet voice to ‘Orange Is the New Black,’ to audiobooks and now to KC

BY JENEÉ OSTERHELDT
THE KANSAS CITY STAR / JUNE 18, 2014 
If you watch “Orange Is the New Black,” you know Miss Rosa. As played by Barbara Rosenblat, her presence is commanding. And Season 2, which launched on Netflix this month, has taught us that even though she’s dying of cancer in prison, Miss Rosa is still an adrenaline junkie of a bad-ass with lots of heart. If there’s one thing that sticks out about her character, it’s that husky and seductive voice that steals every conversation. You want to hear her speak, to cling to her words and let her paint the picture
Rosenblat is known for delivering good dialogue. Decades before “Orange,” she was doing voice work in radio, commercials, documentaries and hundreds of audiobooks.

Her storytelling skills have earned Audie awards from the Audio Publishers Association. And her narration of “Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken,” the children’s favorite by Kate DiCamillo, helped producers Live Oak Media win the 2010 American Library Association’s Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production.

“Whimsical sound effects, playful background music and Barbara Rosenblat’s impressive repertoire of voices combine in this tour-de-force listening experience,” the award committee said.

This weekend, the narrator/actress is in town for Hear Now, a festival showcasing the art of audio storytelling. Rosenblat will participate in panels, performances and workshops alongside Simon Vance (he narrated “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens, among others), Scott Brick (the voice to Justin Cronin’s “The Passage” and more) and “Star Trek” game sound producer Michael Henry.
Click here to read more >

​The Growing Popularity Of Audio Books

The Diane Rehm Show did a piece on The Growing Popularity Of Audio Books.
Katherine Kelgren mentioned Hear Now Festival on the show.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-01-29/growing-popularity-audio-books
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