Theatre of the Mind aims to bring back radio shows in big way

By IAN KAHLER

Feature length radio shows were a thing of the past, from The Abbott and Costello show, to War of the Worlds, they were popular when radio was the biggest thing to hit the US, but UNK students are taking back imaginations in “Theatre of the Mind.”

Billy Deardoff, a senior graphic design and theater major, has been working with his team to create new shows this semester.

“Creating radio plays is a great opportunity since it’s one of the things that was big a while ago but is now near dead,” Deardoff said. “The only group that does things like this is NPR, so for us to resurrect and bring back to life an old art form feels invigorating to our creativity and perfecting our art of theatre.” 

Theatre of the Mind started in the Fall of 2016 but didn’t create their first radio play, Drifting Beyond, until the Spring of 2017. 

“Theatre of the Mind started with thirteen people so starting was a very big experiment for us, but once we problem solved and figured out how to make a radio play, we started creating more shows and it took off from there” Deardoff said.

Theatre of the Mind has been incredibly busy since its humble beginnings in 2016. The group created two seasons of Drifting Beyond, The Roy Chronicles, The Untold Odysseys- which was an ICB Nationalist winner- The Disgraceful North and more. 

“The Untold Odysseys is a group of Theatre of the Mind writers that have been working together as a team,” Deardoff said. “Theatre of the Mind’s future is to make more radio plays as well as to start Theatre of the Mind programs at other colleges and universities.”

Theatre of the Mind will travel to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and New York City to lead workshops on how to make radio plays. 

“The faculty on campus have been a gigantic help with turning our dream into a reality. Ford Clark, Ben Meyers and Darin Himmerich have been awesome at helping us along the way,” Deardoff said. 

Members of Theatre of the Mind are planning on producing four new radio shows this semester. Two are in the works right now with The Untold Odysseys: Voice of Separation and Drifting Beyond Season 1 (Remake) coming soon.