Virtual Community Theater
By: Jesse J Rogers
Tags: Community, Voice Acting, Creativity, Community Theater, Audio

Virtual Community Theater

Join us for connection and creativity during times of isolation

By Jesse Rogers

We all have heavy concerns on our minds in this moment of history. We’re worried about our families and jobs in a rapidly changing world. The political and cultural future of America feels tense and contentious. We’re social creatures isolated into a world where so much of how we once loved to connect is closed off to us.

That’s why it is more important than ever to come together and empower ourselves through acts of creation, rather than destruction.

Some folks who have been doing an incredible job at leading people in the direction of creation are a retired elementary school teacher named Fred Eder and his partner Jenner Zeno at Mind Wave Network. These two amateurs gathered together a talented group of like-minded voice actors to produce several fantastic audio Halloween specials, culminating in Only Through Fire.

Fred Eder, Virtual Theater Manager

The project is an equal partnership between Jenner and Fred. I’ll leave it to Fred in his own words to explain what motivated them to start the Virtual Community Theater.

Someone once suggested that if all the world sat down at the same table for dinner, no one would go hungry. It may or may not have been Gandhi. I’m not in the mood to look it up. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I wanted to build a bigger table. I tried. I do a podcast that has plenty of room on my little Front Porch. But it’s mostly me talking at you. At the table, there is conversation. Then, I stumbled on an idea. The one thing I do better than most people is write. That doesn’t really invite anyone to sit at the table with me. In my life, I have never been invited to sit at The Cool Kids’ Table. I never will be. What if I built a table, and if my name were Arthur it would be round, where anyone who wanted to be a part of it could come and sit and Shine? And that’s what I’m doing with our Community Theater. Three weeks ago, I was begging a few people to perform the radio play Jenner and I had written. Tonight, we have 19 people eager to play a part. We have 2 scripts written, and the big script for Thanksgiving is well under way. I’m honored by the fact that so many strangers want to sit at our table. You’re invited, too. All we ask is that you contribute what talent you have to making something beautiful. I’m focusing on that feeling of pride tonight because there’s nothing I can do to hold the world together at the moment. We just have to wait for the counting to be completed. Think about what makes you proud for a little while tonight. There’s nothing else any more important you can do right now. My 2 cents… 1.75 of which was probably absorbed by Jeff Bezos. :D -Fred Eder

There isn’t much money in this kind of work but it is fulfilling as hell to be part of something good.

The team’s flagship project so far has been Only Through Fire, which you can hear below. Happy listening!

You may also enjoy this piece created by the same team, for which I made time to contribute.

If you’d like to lend your voice to the chorus then I hope you’ll make the time to join us too. You can reach Jenner at info@mindwave.media