We’ve been celebrating quite the Summer of Suspense – both in real life with the vagaries of the COVID pandemic, and in our imaginations with some fist-clenching stories of horror, mystery, and mayhem.  With Autumn on the horizon, we’ll continue that motif one more time, but with a local eye. Midnight Audio Theatre is produced in Columbus, Ohio.  This final jaunt into the genre kicks off with a series produced in the Columbus neighborhood, and it’s new to the show:  Distress Frequency.  This is a horror, sci-fi and adventure anthology series that harkens back to the Golden Age of Radio, yet with a modern flair.  Read More →

By
On
In Episodes

It’s another world premiere! With this episode, we conclude our celebration of Midnight Audio Theatre-produced features with the debut of a story by K.G. Kline; it won in our 2019 scriptwriting competition. “No Man’s Land” opens above Earth.  A vast orbiting luxury space hotel has been converted into a weather observation station with just one occupant.  The ho-hum routine of her daily duties must alter suddenly when she receives a surprising transmission from a long-forgotten vessel.  This may alter more than her daily duties – it could alter the entire course of this future human society. There are stories behind the story, too.  It wasRead More →

By
On
In Episodes, Support

Midnight Audio Theatre’s features festival is roughly midstride as we present you with a world premiere.  Every year, we’re amazed at the incredible quality and creativity of the works submitted in our annual scriptwriting competition.  Last year (2019) was no exception. You’re about to hear “Wingbeats” by K.S.Dearsley.  Dearsley is an accomplished writer in multiple media – including plays, books, short fiction and poetry.   A Doctor Who fan, she loves to create speculative fiction. In “Wingbeats,” young Katya is sent to live with her aunt in a foreign country after weather ruins the crops in her impoverished farming village.  Her aunt, though, is not theRead More →

By
On
In Episodes

Our Features Festival continues as we present winners from the annual Midnight Audio Theatre scriptwriting competition.  We’ve held the competition since 2012, so plenty of fantastic original audio dramas from multiple genres exist to titillate your fancy. We focus in this installment on the human factor:  personal relationships and loss. “Sea and Sky” opens the show.  Written by Michael McPherson, this 2017 winner delves into the magic that thrives in the special relationship between grandchildren and grandparents.  Then, 2013 winner “A Choice Between” by Glenn Hascall brings you to the intersection of guilt, sorrow, and the afterlife after a fatal car crash.  We conclude withRead More →

By
On
In Episodes

All year long, we feature the best English-language audio dramas we can find from around the world.  Now, it’s time for our own features! Here – and continuing in the next couple of episodes – we present original stories written by the winners of our annual scriptwriting competition.  We’re taking a break from the competition for 2020, but there are plenty of other stellar stories stored and standing by. Our last episode (#346) presented wonderful, haunting works from Jim McDoniel’s entries for 2017 and 2018.  This time, get ready for the debut of his 2019 winning script, “The Wild Hunt.”  When a soldier drifts intoRead More →

By
On
In Episodes

Midnight Audio Theatre scours the soundscapes of civilization to bring you the best audio dramas crawling from their creators’ minds.  Now, though, we’re treating you to a couple of original productions produced by our dear friends at…Midnight Audio Theatre! We’ve held script competitions in the past – and hope to revive them in the future, because the submissions are consistently creative, original, and attention-grabbing.  It’s deucedly difficult to pick a winner, but you’ll enjoy some standouts from years past in this installment of our show. We’re focusing on the works of Jim McDoniel.  He’s crafted stellar stories for Hartlife Productions’ Our Fair City and UnwellRead More →

By
On
In Episodes

Welcome back, sonic snoops! It’s time for the final installment in our annual January of Jack Justice.  This time, satisfy your madness for mysteries with episodes 62 (“Strange Bedfellows”) and 63 (“My Heart Belongs to Mummy”) from Black Jack Justice’s tenth season. In “Strange Bedfellows,” a big boss is putting big pressure on Jack and Trixie to drop their only active case.  Problem is: without the case, they’re pretty unemployed.  With the case, they might end up pretty dead.  How will they solve that conundrum? Somehow, they do survive, only to take a sideroad to the supernatural in “My Heart Belongs to Mummy.”  What’s aRead More →

By
On
In Episodes

It’s our penultimate parade of private-eye potboilers:  the third episode in a row devoted entirely to that slick sonic sultan of sleuthing, Black Jack Justice! Today’s back-to-back adventures are installments 59 (“The Big Time”) and 60 (“The Learner’s Permit”). It’s said that the life of a private investigator consists of bits of action interrupted by long stretches of slow days watching the sun crawl across the office floor.  Jack and Trixie wouldn’t know anything about that; just as they settle in for a big yawner, the door bursts open and opportunity strides in, reeking of after-shave and waving an action-packed expense account.  That means it’sRead More →

By
On
In Episodes

Come inside, come inside, come inside to part two of our nonstop Noir January of Jack Justice! In this installment, the good people of Decoder Ring Theatre will treat your ears to two tales from season nine of Black Jack Justice –  episodes 56 (“Death and Taxes”) and 57 (“The Cheshire Cat”). As Ben Franklin told his pal Jean-Baptiste LeRoy, “Nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.”  Jack Justice would add itemized lists of expenses will certainly show things that aren’t as they appear.  Oh, and a fourth thing that’s certain:  it’ll cost you $39.99 per diem to have Justice &Read More →

By
On
In Episodes

January means one thing around the hallowed aisles of Midnight Audio Theatre:  our annual January Jack Justice jubilee!  The Sultan of Sleuthing is one of – if not our most – popular features.  Every year, we receive requests to relay more adventures of this delightfully daring detective.  Who are we to deny you such aural excitement? This episode is but the first of four featuring fulfillment of fans’ forensic fantasy! Your nights of noir begin with Black Jack Justice, episodes 55 (“Home Fires”) and 61 (“The Rat Trap”). In “Home Fires,” a couple of hundred pounds of strapping small-town lawman is distracting the heck outRead More →

By
On
In Episodes, Feedback