Title:

Earplay

Type:

Contemporary Radio Drama

Broadcast History:

1971 to 1981. Later revived in a new form as NPR Playhouse to the end of its Summer 2002 Season.

Production Companies and Casts are variously from NPR, BBC, CBC and established radio drama groups from the major cities in the US.

The opening and the closing for the shows give the following quotes: "A series of contemporary plays for radio--- Earplay" and Earplay is funded by --"The National Endowment for the Arts and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting"

One of the best descriptions of Earplay comes from an address given by Sarah Montague to the Midwest Radio Theater Workshop, June 8 1999.

Quoting Paul Keith Jackson "The first and last tasks of Earplay were identical: to locate and to educate a segment of society in the realm of radio-art, and to insert that art form into the cultural configuration of the American consciousness. However, the seventies appeared to represent a period which fomented populist escapism. Therefore, the subtleties of acoustic art and intimate, provocative earplays were lost on a bewildered citizenry constantly faced with other non-artistic priorities that directed its energies elsewhere."

Source: National Audio Theater Festivals ( NATF )

Source: Audio Theater.com -An Interview with Yuri Rasovsky