Audio Anthology

Audio Anthology Trailer Bonus Episode 2 Season 1

For Detroit

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Jamaal May's "There are Birds Here" sparked a passionate conversation about Detroit. Multiple ensemble members from Detroit shared dozens of instances in which they were treated unfairly based on uninformed and biased opinions about the city. One student shared, "The people who asked where we were from were afraid of us." Detroit is a city with a rich history. Today it's an energetic and vibrant city with diverse communities that offer excellent music, art, food, sports, and architecture. Perceptions of Detroit as bleak and dangerous are tied to race, and this play aims to engage with those prejudices while shattering hurtful perceptions about a city that we love.

Show Notes

For Detroit
Written by Mary Claire Zauel
Directed by Sam Carter
Performers: Cole Dzubak, Keturah Heath, Jason Dernay

Jamaal May's "There are Birds Here" sparked a passionate conversation about Detroit. Multiple ensemble members from Detroit shared dozens of instances in which they were treated unfairly based on uninformed and biased opinions about the city. One student shared, "The people who asked where we were from were afraid of us." Detroit is a city with a rich history. Today it's an energetic and vibrant city with diverse communities that offer excellent music, art, food, sports, and architecture. Perceptions of Detroit as bleak and dangerous are tied to race, and this play aims to engage with those prejudices while shattering hurtful perceptions about a city that we love. 

What is Audio Anthology?

A group of Michigan State University students virtually came together throughout fall 2020 to create a series of 5 new audio plays, each connected to the themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As a starting point, we all brought in poetry to share. We read and discussed dozens of poems from diverse artists and used those as a jumping off point. The poetry evoked frank and honest conversations about race, gender, and sexuality, and every member of the ensemble shared deeply moving personal experiences about how these impact the way they move through the world today. We then created scenarios and improvised scenes until the basic structure for each play began to take place. Individuals and groups of students took on the challenge of weaving these experiences into cohesive audio dramas.