Radio people do show prep every day. Actually, we live show prep. We're doing show prep when we're asleep. Show prep becomes just the way you live. Everything, or pretty much everything, is fodder for the next show, for the next chance to create radio that is fresh, relevant, compelling, and concise. We want to create radio that connects us to our listeners and makes our our listeners feel connected to us and to life itself more vividly, that rides the edge of unconsious collective thought, that curates common experience, that exposes the truth that we are all the same (also called by Brian McDonald, one of my writing gurus, "The Golden Theme").
So for radio people, that's all we want out of life. Every day, every break on the air, every show.
Other than that, we don't want much. Maybe to have yet another meal that isn't ramen while the gig still lasts. Maybe to get out of debt again before the gig ends.
So this journey into Spellbinding, into bringing stories to kids told in the original way, the ancient way, in most human of all arts, is new. And...not new.
The ritual of prep feels familiar. Choosing the story, stacking up parts of the story, tossing the parts that are not crucial to moving the narrative forward, running through the story to see how the structure holds up, and pruning yet again. Then (to mix metaphors) selecting the corners of the parachute so that the story will fly true, selecting key phrases which will be the corners of the parachute to grab on to through the narrative journey, and then beginning the rehearsal process. Making sure I can stick the landing, over and over and over again. Then sticking the landing in the TIME.* This, from both radio and theater standpoints, is all very comfortingly familiar.
BUT...sitting in a tiny chair made for a five-year-old in front of a group of children, the only kind of people I never spent any time around ever, the only people who have never represented a demographic I've served, well… That's an adventure. I'm counting on them to guide me, and I'm sure I won't be disappointed.
Prepping stories for the season for Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 3rd Grade and 4th Grade… Here goes!
* This parachute concept comes from a brilliant book by Sue Hollingsworth
