Yesterday, Tribeca Festival announced its 2023 audio storytelling lineup, including 18 world premieres from independent and established narrative audio storytellers and 11 “Live from Tribeca” events. This year's Festival takes place from June 7th to June 18th, with the audio storytelling lineup running from June 12th to June 16th, connecting creators to listeners in person at the Festival.

The 2023 Festival lineup of “Live from Tribeca” events include exclusive conversations with audio creators as well as live tapings of shows, such as an audio artists panel hosted by Avery Trufelman (Articles of Interest), a live taping of Crooked Media’s Pod Save America with guest co-host Alex Wagner; a 25th anniversary rewatch event of Will & Grace followed by a live taping of SmartLess Media’s Just Jack & Will featuring Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack; a live taping of Selected Shorts with New York Times Bestselling author Roxane Gay; a live taping of New York Times Audio’s Modern Love with Kim Cattrall; and a live taping of Sonic Union’s Perreo 101 followed by a musical performance by Cuban artists Yotuel and Beatriz Luengo.

On top of that, the 2023 Audio Storytelling lineup boasts 16 selections and equally represents both independent creators and established creators across fiction and narrative nonfiction series. Some of the world premieres from established creators include The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island (Radio Diaries and Radiotopia from PRX), Free from Desire (Paradiso), The Very Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen (Wolf at the Door Studios), and Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto (Crooked Media). Official selections will be previewed at the Established Audio Artists Panel hosted by Avery Trufelman and the Emerging Audio Artists Panel hosted by a special guest and available the following day at https://tribecafilm.com/podcasts and @TribecaAudio on Twitter.

"We’re honored to premiere the work of these innovative creators and to celebrate audio storytelling with the high level of recognition the medium deserves. The program brings together an expansive community of listeners and creators alike with interdisciplinary programming, parties, and sound-rich live events.”

-- Davy Gardner, Curator of Audio Storytelling at Tribeca Festival

For this year, Tribeca Festival has introduced new audio storytelling award categories, creating more opportunities for both independent and established creators. The new categories include the Independent Audio Storytelling Fiction Award, Independent Audio Storytelling Nonfiction Award, Established Audio Storytelling Fiction Award, and Established Audio Storytelling Nonfiction Award. Tribeca's Audio Storytelling submissions more than doubled with these four juried awards categories.

Outside of the lineup of world premieres and “Live From Tribeca” events, the audio storytelling program also serves as a connection point for creators to directly talk to listeners at this year's Festival by hosting a series of community-building events over the five-day lineup, including the first-ever Audio Storytelling awards ceremony to celebrate official selections and winners.

The Tribeca Festival is curated by Festival Director and VP of Programming Cara Cusumano, Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer; VP of Programming Sharon Badal and VP of Shorts Programming Ben Thompson; Senior Programmers Liza Domnitz, Faridah Gbadamosi, and Jarod Neece; Programmers José F. Rodriguez, Casey Baron, Jason Gutierrez, and Jonathan Penner; VP of Games and Immersive Casey Baltes and Immersive Curator Ana Brzezińska; Curator of Audio Storytelling Davy Gardner; Music Programmer Vincent Cassous; and Chief Content Officer Paula Weinstein, along with a team of associate programmers.

Keep an eye out for more Tribeca 2023 coverage as we get closer to the Festival in June. I’m already sending emails out for potential coverage, so here’s hoping that this year’s coverage is even more extensive than last year’s or that I find some hidden gems.

The full audio storytelling lineup is detailed below. To purchase passes and ticket packages for the 2023 Tribeca Festival, go to tribecafilm.com/festival.

“Live From Tribeca” Events
Conversations with audio creators, world premiere events, live tapings of hit shows, and more.

Established Audio Artists Panel with Host Avery Trufelman – Previews and discussion. Avery Trufelman (Articles of Interest, 99% Invisible) will moderate a panel featuring the creators behind the Tribeca Festival’s 2022 Audio Storytelling Official Selections in the Established category. Short audio clips from these creators’ audio pieces will punctuate the conversation. The discussion will explore how each of these audio pieces came to be, the obstacles faced by the creators, and what is next for this group of audio artists.

Emerging Audio Artists Panel – Previews and discussion. A special guest will moderate a panel featuring the creators behind the Tribeca Festival’s 2022 Audio Storytelling Official Selections in the Independent category. Short audio clips from these creators’ audio pieces will punctuate the conversation. The discussion will explore how each of these audio pieces came to be, the obstacles faced by the creators, and what is next for this group of audio artists.

Pod Save America with Guest Co-host Alex Wagner and Surprise Guest (Crooked Media) – Live taping. The Tribeca Festival will host a live taping of an episode of Crooked Media’s hit series, Pod Save America, with the full cast, Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, Tommy Vietor, guest co-host Alex Wagner, and featuring a special surprise guest. The four former aides to President Obama have a no-bullshit conversation about politics.

Just Jack & Will: A Will & Grace 25th Anniversary Rewatch Event (SmartLess Media) – Screening and live taping. On the 25th anniversary of Will & Grace, the beloved NYC-based sitcom, Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack are back for Just Jack and Will, a new rewatch podcast from SmartLess Media. This live Tribeca Festival event will feature a screening of an episode of Will & Grace, followed by a rewatch conversation with Sean Hayes, Eric McCormack, and a special guest.

Selected Shorts Live with Roxane Gay – Live taping and performances. The theme of this Live-from-Tribeca episode of the beloved program, Selected Shorts, is “Night at the Movies.” On Wednesday, June 14th, the Tribeca Festival will partner with Selected Shorts at Symphony Space in New York City for an evening of short stories dedicated to the love affair between fiction and filmmaking. New York Times Bestselling author Roxane Gay will guest-host the show with other special guests.

Modern Love with Kim Cattrall (New York Times Audio) – Live taping and performance. New York Times Audio’s popular Modern Love podcast with special guest Kim Cattrall. Host Anna Martin will also be joined by the editors of The New York Times’ Modern Love column, Daniel Jones and Miya Lee. The Modern Love podcast explores the complicated love lives of real people, based on the weekly New York Times column.

It’s Been a Minute with Brittany Luse (NPR) – Live taping. A live-from-Tribeca taping of NPR’s beloved podcast series, featuring a surprise guest. Each week, Brittany Luse takes the things everyone's talking about and, in conversation with her favorite creators, tastemakers, and experts, gives you new ways to think about them.

You Feeling This? with James Kim and JT Green (iHeartRadio and Overtones Media) – World premiere and performance. The anthology fiction podcast You Feeling This? will make its world premiere with a live performance of the show. The event will feature showrunner James Kim and composers Ryo Baum and Robert Garrova playing a live score to several episodes from the audio series. There will also be a discussion with JT Green and a musical performance from Katy Kirby. You Feeling This? is a fiction podcast mixtape about love, presented by iHeartRadio and Overtones Media.

Perreo 101 with Musical Guests Yotuel and Beatriz Luengo (Sonic Union) – Live taping and performance. A live episode taping of Perreo 101’s second season: “Cubatón”, in partnership with Sonic Union. Cuban artists Yotuel and Beatriz Luengo will join Music Historian and host Katelina ‘Gata’ Eccleston to explore their musical contributions, the social paradigms of the Cuban-based Reggaeton subgenre, and their Grammy Award-winning song ‘Patria Y Vida’.

Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto (Crooked Media) – World premiere. This special event will celebrate the brand new narrative audio series, Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto from Crooked Media. In 2014, Adelanto, a city in California’s high desert, was about to go bankrupt. Then a stranger came to town with a crazy idea to make Adelanto great again: Weed.

The Space Within (Audible Original) – World premiere. In association with Freckle Films, Solaris Productions, and Ramble Road, the Audible Original thriller from Topic Studios will follow Dr. Madeline Wyle (Jessica Chastain), an internationally acclaimed psychiatrist specializing in trauma. When she discovers a string of patients with the same, seemingly supernatural, repressed memories, she is forced to risk her reputation and career to confront the possibility that their memories of alien abduction might be real. Also starring Bobby Cannavale, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Stuhlbarg, Shea Whigham, and Carmen Ejogo. Created and written by Gregory O'Connor and Josh Fagin, and directed by Stephen Winter. Executive produced by Christy Gressman, Maria Zuckerman, Jessica Chastain, Josh Fagin, and Gregory O’Connor. Produced by Vincent Cacchione. Original music by Vincent Cacchione and Jeff Tobias.

Official Selections: Independent Creators Nonfiction
The following titles are eligible for the Independent Audio Nonfiction Award.

Abridged (Goat Rodeo) – World Premiere. Abridged is a podcast about bridges. More specifically, it’s about the many roles that bridges play in our lives: as gateways to history, architectural icons, in-between spaces, and carriers of memories. You’ll hear about a bridge that suddenly started singing, a photographer who’s climbed to the top of every bridge in New York City, a woman who married a bridge, ants who build bridges out of their own bodies, kids who build bridges out of toothpicks, and more. (Created by Rebecca Seidel.)

Magic on a Winter's Night (IWR Media, RTÉ Lyric Fm) – World Premiere. Wexford Festival Opera began in the unlikeliest of places and times: a rural town (pop.12,0000) in 1950s Ireland. To set itself apart, the Festival looked to introduce audiences to neglected or forgotten operas, and drawn by curiosity, international critics soon began to recount the magic they found here. As they work for long days and nights, for weeks on end, here we discover the fundamental truth of sorcery: magic doesn’t just happen. It is made. (Created by Mary Brophy, Neal Boyle, and Eoin O'Kelly.)

Shalom Amore (Live Action Projects) – World Premiere. An epic love story reveals surprising truths about an Italian Jewish family split apart by Fascism. How do you know when to flee? And what does it mean to stay? (Created by David Modigliani.)

Weight For It (ohitsBigRon studios) – World Premiere. Ronald Young Jr is looking for love and wondering if he can ever truly be desirable as a fat man. However, in his search, he finds that even in seemingly the safest of spaces, he might not exactly fit in as well as he had hoped. Along this mental journey, he makes a discovery about himself that is not exactly comforting. (Created by Ronald Young Jr.)

Official Selections: Established Creators Nonfiction
The following titles are eligible for The Audio Nonfiction Award.

Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto (Crooked Media) – World Premiere. In 2014, Adelanto, a city in California’s high desert, was about to go bankrupt. Then a stranger came to town with a crazy idea to make Adelanto great again: Weed. (Created by David Weinberg, Sarah Geismer, Katie Long, and Mary Knauf.)

Free from Desire (Paradiso Media) – World Premiere. Growing up in Paris, Aline's lack of interest in sex as a teenager alienated her from her peers. Today, she recounts what life was like before discovering her own asexuality. (Created by Aline Laurent-Mayard, Emi Norris, Lorenzo Benedetti, Louis Daboussy, and Benoit Dunaigre.)

The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island (Radio Diaries and Radiotopia from PRX) – World Premiere. Hart Island, off the coast of New York City, is America's largest public cemetery. More than a million people are buried there, including AIDS patients, homeless people, immigrants, artists, prisoners, and about ten percent of New Yorkers who died of Covid-19. Hart Island's graves are unmarked, and many who are buried there are shrouded in anonymity. In this series, six of these people’s loved ones go to great lengths to uncover their stories. (Created by Alissa Escarce, Nellie Gilles, and Joe Richman.)

Wilder (iHeartMedia) – World Premiere. Since the first Little House book was published, readers have flocked to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s stories of her pioneer family. Her life and legacy remain as mesmerizing, controversial, and violent as the America she represents. In a country currently at odds with itself, could there be a better time to explore this woman? (Created by Glynnis MacNicol, Emily Marinoff, and Jo Piazza.)

Official Selections: Independent Creators Fiction
The following titles are eligible for The Independent Audio Fiction Award.

Aisha – World Premiere. Aisha, a Palestinian girl in Gaza City, longs for freedom and safety - without having her cultural and religious identity to the Israeli-American aid worker who wishes to "save" her. But, deep below the surface, in a smuggling tunnel, a new Underground Railroad, she dreams of another path, another way. (Created by Cory Choy and Feyiṣayo Aluko.)

The Fabulists (Long Story Short Productions) – World Premiere. The mysterious company known as The Revisions Department improves people's lives by running elaborate confidence schemes, ones that help their clients find what's missing in their lives instead of cleaning out their bank accounts. Harry Finch has long been the mastermind behind these schemes, but lately, his work has suffered. So to help right the ship, Harry's boss does the unthinkable. (Created by Gabriel Urbina.)

Happy Accidents – World Premiere. Happy Accidents is a surreal dark comedy that takes the form of a meditation series set in the village of your mind. The village is a green and pleasant land, surrounded by glistening water. Every thought and tendency of the mind has a home there. Charlie, a naive meditation instructor, narrates the series. He wants to help you achieve the Authentic Self and does dubious things in the village to achieve this. (Created by Thomas Rawley.)

These Were Humans – World Premiere. In a distant future, humans are long extinct, and all that remains of their kind are recently unearthed audio recordings that present snippets of their daily stupid lives. Join us as we explore this gentle, simple, meaty species, one sketch at a time. These... were humans. (Created by Georgie Aldaco.)

Official Selections: Established Creators Fiction
The following titles are eligible for The Audio Fiction Award.

Necessary Tomorrows (Imposter Media) – World Premiere. In 2065, a reluctant defense lawyer must defend a climate refugee accused of murder. In 2022, writer Christopher Brown and tribal attorney Jack Fiander explained what he killed. Necessary Tomorrows is a podcast series that mixes science fiction and speculative fact to explore how to make better futures. (Created by Brett Gaylor.)

Scriptulated! – World Premiere. Scriptulated! is a lightly-scripted, heavily-improvised comedy podcast where a new guest goes on a hilarious adventure through a different movie genre each week. They’ll have to trust their instincts and hope for the best as they make on-the-fly decisions, interact with a wacky cast of characters, and try to save the day before the end credits roll. (Created by Luke Burns and James Folta.)

Sleepwalkr 360 (Inside the Box Productions) – World Premiere. In 2044, underground entertainment troupes such as The Sandmen Collective illegally utilize SLEEPWALKR dream-scanning technology to link audiences into the dreamscapes of others sonaurally. "The Theatre" surveys the dream of a woman named Siobahn, and puts you in the shoes of a performer onstage, though it seems the audience has other ideas... (Created by Sam Kellman and David Coleman.)

The Very Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen (Wolf at the Door Studios) – World Premiere. Raul's life in Hong Kong is thrown upside down when he discovers he can write letters to his favorite author, Sara- a woman on the other side of the world who's been dead for thirty years. Guided by mysterious forces, they meet in "the middle," in a profound and life-changing attempt to find love and meaning in a broken world. (Created by Alex Kemp, Winnie Kemp, and Chica Barbosa.)

Until next time!

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