Northern New England Audio Theatre Conference Along with the rains, summer 2000 brought to the northeast a weekend workshop dedicated to the art of audio theatre. Coordinated and hosted by Janine Preston at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire the three-day event began on Friday, July 14th and ran through Sunday the 16th. Among the Northern New England Audio Theatre Conference’s trainers were Tom Lopez of ZBS Productions, Steve Oney of Cape Cod Mystery Theatre, Joel Pierson of Mind’s Eye, Rev. Dwight Frizzell of Wabi Media and Sue Zizza of NATF. The technical crew was headed by Ben Taylor of KBAQ. Preston also enlisted the help of members of the Keene University Communications Department, including Kate Phillips, Ruth Parent and Robert Gunther. The weekend saw 25 participants attending sessions on writing and acting as well as sound design and digital editing. Jim Latimer of Sound Forge demonstrated the PC based editing system as well as participated in recording two new audio dramas. Don Kisner of Balance Publishing was on-hand to discuss the use of audio in the classroom. His company not only produces and distributes a series of American literature on cassette to  schools throughout the U.S., but also publishes a text on how to get students involved in producing their own original audio plays. “I have really enjoyed attending audio theatre conferences in the past and since their wasn’t one scheduled for 2000 I thought it might be great to do it at Keene State College,” said Janine. “It was hard work putting it all together, but everyone helped and together we all made it work.” Joel Pierson and Robert Gunther, a former Hollywood child film star who now teaches film studies at Keene State, directed two plays which were recorded at Preston’s Making Wavs Studios. Pierson directed his own play Easy Terms while Gunther directed Preston’s play Inner Voices. Easy Terms was a comedy about love and phone sales while Inner Voices was a drama dealing with child abuse. Sue Zizza helped with the live (foley) sound effects with assistance from Pat Keleher. The Rev. Dwight Frizzell provided an original musical score. Ben Taylor and Jim Latimer oversaw the digital recording process. “I am going to try and complete the editing of these voice tracks in the next few months,” said Preston, “Once they’re done I’ll be putting them on my website at <www.makingwavs.com> for anyone to hear and broadcasting them on my show at WKNH.” Dianne Ballon of Maine came down for the weekend to further her audio theatre education. I’m really enjoying getting to talk to everyone and hear what others are producing,” she said at a listening session hosted by Sue Zizza and NATF. Ballon, who produces short audio art stories for National Public Radio played two examples of her recent work. One of her productions was a series of short wave recordings Ballon had made on New Year’s Eve 2000 of international broadcasts welcoming the millennium. The other was a piece on lawn mowers. Stories and sound of summer all tied up in mowing the grass. “It was great to have a moment to hear other producer’s work,” said Tom Lopez, “some things you like and somethings you don’t, but you always learn from what you hear.” “The feedback for weekend has been very positive,” said Preston. “I’m not sure yet if we’ll do this again next year, it will depend on many factors, but anyone interested can drop by my website for future updates.” That's all folks! sz