#Caroline Mincks

[arthurdrakoni]

Seen and Not Heard is an audio drama that makes the bold choice to depict the experience of deafness in an audio medium. And it does so quite well. This is my review.

Audio drama, and audio fiction in general, is the last place you’d expect to find people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Despite this, there are a surprising number of such individuals involved in the world of audio drama. And it isn’t just fans. In fact, @seenandnotheardpod is an audio drama created by a deaf individual. 

Seen and Not Heard follows a young woman named Bet Kline. She has recently lost most of her hearing as a result of an unspecified illness. The series follows a few weeks in Bet’s life as she tries to navigate her now mostly soundless new life. She has to deal with her rather insensitive mother. She meets a nice young man named David, who might be more than he appears. More than anything, Bet has to decide what she wants out of her new life. 

I first become aware of Seen and Not Heard when it got recommended to me on that “You Might Also Like” section of the Apple Podcast app. The first thing that stood out to me was the title card. You see a circle of hands using sign language. That, plus the title, clearly indicated that this would be something involving deafness. A non-fiction podcast about deafness would certainly be odd, but not necessarily out of the question. But this was recommended based on my recent listening. Surly, it couldn’t be an audio drama about deafness, could it? I tapped the cover art, and sure enough, that’s exactly what it was. 

I admit that this show had a certain dancing bear element to it. It’s not everyday that you find an audio drama where the main character is deaf. Oh, but that’s not the only unusual feature about Seen and Not Heard. You see, it is also created by a deaf individual. Series creator @saucymincks, who uses they/them pronouns, is legally deaf. They describe themselves as being exactly halfway between fully hearing and fully deaf. So, they have some hearing, but it is less than optimal. They often get help from their friends to make sure that the audio from their podcasts is correct and up to snuff. And yes, that’s podcasts plural. Caroline Mincks has made several other podcasts besides just Seen and Not Heard. They have also worked on several other audio dramas, and have helped make transcripts for several shows. Speaking of which, transcripts are available on the Seen and Not Heard Twitter account. 

And Caroline isn’t alone. As it turns out, there are a surprisingly high number of deaf and/or hard of hearing individuals who enjoy audio dramas. They come because the shows all seem interesting, and they want to take partake in them. Just the same as hearing people do. This is why it is important to include transcripts with your audio dramas. Without them, it is very difficult for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to enjoy audio dramas. Also, transcripts are very handy for people who write reviews of audio dramas. 

Now, prior to listening to Seen and Not Heard, I’d had a less than stellar experience with depictions of deafness in audio dramas. The only other time I’d seen deafness in audio dramas was in The AM Archies; which is season six of The Bright Sessions. There’s a scene between a hearing character and a deaf character. The deaf character communicates using sign language, which is conveyed by a series of barely audible wind rushing noises. I actually had to rewind multiple times to just to figure out what the hell I was listening to. It didn’t help that Lauren Shippen bragged about how groundbreaking the scene was on Twitter. She came across less as someone who wanted to sincerely depict deafness, and more like she was cynically trying to virtue signal. It also didn’t help that the characters only appeared in that one scene, and had no impact on the plot.  

I went into Seen and Not Heard with an open mind, but I was fully prepared for it to be terrible. Much to my surprise, Seen and Not Heard proved to be quite well-written, and took great care to execute it premise in an entirely audio medium. There is strong feeling of sincerity and genuine care being put forward. This is clearly a very intimate subject for Caroline Mincks, and they wanted to do the topic of deafness proper justice in an audio medium. I alway give points to those who act with sincerity and genuine conviction.

We get a few scenes where we actually get to hear what things are like from Bet’s perspective. It sounds like she has her head underwater. I could kind of make out a couple words and phrases, but I was fairly lost during those scenes. Of course, that’s the point of those scenes. We’re suppose to sympathize and empathize with Bet’s struggles. Bet communicates verbally both in interactions with other characters and her internal monologue. Bet was not born deaf, so presumably she remembers the mechanics of talking. It is also mentioned that she can lip read, and can somewhat better understand people if she’s facing them. She does enroll in a sign language class. She’s the only actual deaf person in the class. Pretty much everyone else has family of significant others who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

I do wonder how much of Seen and Not Heard is autobiographical. It didn’t escape my notice that Bet and Caroline Mincks share a number of similarities. They are both Jews from northern Virginia. Many of the foods that Bet cooks and eats are also ones I’ve seen Caroline mentioning cooking on Twitter. They also seem to be fairly similar in terms of personality. There’s also the obvious similarity that they are both deaf to the same degree. 

There’s a bonus episode where Caroline Mincks gives advice on how do write deaf characters, as well as a bit about what it is like to be a deaf audio drama creator. They said it is considered rude to ask deaf people how they became deaf. Be that as it may, given all of the other similarities between Bet and Caroline, I can’t help but wonder. I also wonder how much of the plot draws from Caroline’s own life. There are some differences, like how Caroline identifies as non-binary, while Bet identifies as female. However, I also don’t know how Caroline identified when Seen and Not Heard was made. 

I should also mention that, in addition to being the series creator, Caroline as provides the voice for Bet. Caroline gives a very earnest and heartfelt performance. It was quite clear, as with everything else, that this was a very personal subject for Caroline. Caroline also assembled a team of very talented voice actors to help bring the other characters to life.

Caroline has hinted that we might be getting a season 2 of Seen and Not Heard at some point.  I’m certainly on-board if that does come to pass.

Have you listened to Seen and Not Heard?  If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-audio-file-seen-and-not-heard.html?m=1

[re-dracula]

June 29: Jonathan Harker's work is done.

Transcript here.

This episode featured: Ben Galpin as Jonathan Harker; Bonnie Calderwood Aspinwall, Caroline Mincks, and Madi Opincaru as Vampyresses; and Karim Kronfli as Dracula. Directed by Stephen Indrisano. Dialogue editing by Stephen Indrisano. Sound design by Tal Minear. Produced by Ella Watts and Pacific S. Obadiah, with executive producers Stephen Indrisano, Tal Minear, and Hannah Wright. A Bloody FM Production.

[seenandnotheardpod]

Hello!

Here you'll find the blog for the podcast Seen and Not Heard!

SANH was created by me, Caroline Mincks, the one running this thing, and is an audio drama about hearing loss.

Yeah, I know, that seems a little counterintuitive. But stick with me.

Seen and Not Heard is fiction, but based on real-life experiences of losing your hearing as an adult and figuring out how to navigate the world with a new disability.

It follows Bet Kline, a Jewish woman living in Richmond, Virginia, who has put her dream of being a chef on the back burner while she attempts to do things like make a living, learn sign language, and connect with her family. Though she's very real about her struggles and frustrations, she's determined to figure out this new life and find her path.

SANH is a slice-of-life story - grounded and realistic, but hopeful and with plenty of humor along the way.

I hope you'll give it a listen - or a read, since it is fully transcribed - and consider the ways in which we might use certain mediums to tell unexpected stories.

[fyeahaudiodrama]

i had a dream last night that someone had made a pinocchio audio drama adaptation - in the very loosest sense, given that the only commonality seemed to be it was about a little wooden boy

the main conceit seemed to be that pinocchio himself worked in this resale/antique shop and was only allowed out on the streets to run errands at night (because he would get noticed for being little wooden boy otherwise?), and every time he came and went from his shop, he had to use passcodes, one of which was just shouting the word “RUE!”

stylistically, it was very dark and macabre, but also because it was set in historical germany, every time the scene changed, there was some kind of bumper telling the audience about the real-world places in germany that the show was referencing (and this was some kind of legal requirement)

the show itself was called “Tattered Vintage.” it had one season out already, was in the process of producing a second, and was produced by caroline mincks

[of-the-sword]

"The room was some sort of carriage, going up! Sir Tristan unsheathed his sword and prepared for battle."

New episode! Listen to The Vertical Carriage here.

Vertical Carriage was written by Tal Minear and performed by Caroline Mincks. Audio editing and sound design by Tal Minear. Produced by Ezra J. Wayne and Tal Minear.

[wefixspacejunk]

It's here! Our Hanukkah Special is finally here! If you're a Patron, it'll be popping up in your feed (patreon.com/battlebirdprod) and if you want to buy an individual episode, you can visit our GumRoad store at gumroad.com/wefixspacejunk! This episode features the wonderful Caroline Mincks, who also consulted on the script along with Rachel Smith!

[starplanes]

Audio Drama Show Notes Template

Show Notes, also known as Episode Descriptions, are the text that is posted alongside the audio of an episode. For fiction podcasts, it should contain some sort of info about what the episode is about, any content warnings, a link to the transcript, cast/crew information, and links to the show’s website/social media.

Whew, that’s a lot. Here’s how I break it down for What Will Be Here, which is hosted on Pinecast:

What Will Be Here? Episode 1, Go For Deploy.

Jules introduces the team. Suri has doubts about the project. Armani makes their own golden record. Kei is in the ducts. Dane explains how the world is doomed.

Content Notes: contains swearing, the brief presence of fire, recordings of several animal noises, audio of a jet, and the recording of a gunshot. No guns are present in the episode.

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/wwbhe1transcript

CREDITS:

Jona Lune (they/them) — Jules.

Sahar Iman (they/them) — Suri.

Kathy Youssef (they/them) — Armani.

Vico Ortiz (they/them) — Kei.

John Y. Kamara (he/him) — Dane.

This episode directed and Sound Designed by Tal Minear (they/them).

Written by Brad Colbroock (they/them/he), Chandler Harrison (she/her), Cole Burkhardt (he/him), Di Reese (she/they), and Tal Minear (they/them).

Intro and outro music by Benny James (she/they).

Transcript by Caroline Mincks (they/them).

ADDITIONAL NOTES: Show Website located at whatwillbehere.crd.co. Social Media is WhatWillBeHere on Twitter and Instagram.

The Template, With Notes

Show Title, Episode Number, Episode Title

It can be good for SEO to restate the show name and episode title in your notes. (It also helps you know what episode it is from the notes alone).

Short description of episode.

Ideally just a few sentences. This is what you would say if someone asked “so what is this episode about?”

When people are deciding if they should listen to the show, they might look at a few episode descriptions. This is also a chance for you to draw your audience in.

Relevant content warnings.

I’m slowly pivoting to calling these “content notes,” because they’re less of a warning and more of a heads up about what’s in a episode that might throw someone off guard.

When researching common trigger warnings, remember that most lists aren’t written with the audio medium in mind. If you have a startling sound (ex: a jump scare, gunshot, scream, etc), that’s worth including in the notes.

If you’re worried about episode spoilers, you can put content warnings at the bottom (but say so in the episode description!). However, please do include them, even if they give something away!

Transcript Link.

Some platforms (like Spotify, until recently) don’t show hyperlinks. I’ve started creating a short url for the episode transcript so that I can put it in full in the show notes. It’s important to me that people can access the transcript easily, because some folks need a transcript to engage with the content.

For super short episodes (trailers and brief announcements), I’ll put the transcript in full after the credits. I don’t do this for long episodes because it’s unwieldy, hard to read, and in some cases will get cut off by podcasting apps.

Credits.

I’ve started doing bullet points for each member of the cast and crew, because it easily distinguishes them. Some platforms don’t show single new lines, and I don’t like having a paragraph for everyone because it blurs together.

I like to include pronouns for my cast and crew, so that listeners don’t have to guess pronouns based on voice or look it up themselves.

I also like to link to a website for each member of the cast and crew. This might be their personal website, their twitter, or their section on the show website. I want other people to find and follow my cast and crew, so I try to make it easy to do so.

Bonus Info.

If I’m promoting another show or have something else to say (ex: “this is the season finale, we’ll be on hiatus for a bit), I’ll drop it in after the credits.

This could also go before the credits, especially if you have a large cast/crew and are worried people might not scroll down.

Website and Social Media Links.

Make it easy for people to find more information about and engage with your show. I link to the show website, Patreon (if I have one), Twitter, and Instagram (if I have one). I’ve started spelling out the website in full due to the aforementioned hyperlink issue, and I do the same for the show’s Twitter and Instagram handle.

Basically, if you have stuff relating to the show that isn’t the podcast itself, link it at the end!

Just The Template

Show Title, Episode Number, Episode Title

Short description of episode.

Relevant content warnings or notes.

Transcript Link.

Credits.

Bonus Info.

Website and Social Media Links.

[monkeymanproductions]

MTO S4E14 - Cast of Characters!

We're getting closer to Sunday and Moonbase Theta, Out S4E14 - "Never Stopped Saying I'm Sorry" - here's a list of the amazing actors you're going to hear this episode! We're so lucky to work with such great people:

CHARACTERS

BARNETT BELL (she/her) – Danyelle Ellett

ENCLAVE OFFICER (he/him) – D.J. Sylvis

SLIPSTREAM (they/them) – Glory Duda

RANDOM VOICE – Robin Howell

MARIA L’ANGLOIS (she/her) – Cat Blackard

MICHELL L’ANGLOIS (he/him) – Cass McPhee

WILDER (she/they) – Tina Daniels

ROGER BRAGADO-FISCHER (he/him) – Leeman Kessler

ADDIE (they/them) – Journee LaFond

SLAM ANNOUNCER – Caroline Mincks

JAXON (they/he) – Cole Burkhardt

TRINA HAUGEN (she/her) – Alicia Atkins

VAL NARVÁEZ (she/her) - Rissa Montañez

[queenalicorn]

You can still support Caroline Mincks‘ Queer Pride and Prejudice!!!

[oots-digitalmedia]

Queer Rep in Light Hearts

Title: Light Hearts

    Status: Hiatus?

    Creators and Showrunners: Caroline Mincks, Evan Tess Murray, Tal Minear

Cast: Caroline Mincks, Evan Tess Murray, Tal Minear, Sarah Werner, Sawyer Greene, Alexander Endymion Hernández Díaz, A. R. Olivieri

    Queer Creators: Yes

    Accessibility: Content warnings in episode descriptions, transcripts available on their website here.

Summary: Running a business is hard. Running a business alone in an old, haunted building is even harder. Janine didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she opened Prism - but with the help of Ryan (an astronomy professor with a useful knack) and Kale (an artist with a mind for marketing), she manages to stay aloft. Light Hearts follows the daily shenanigans of serving Prism’s customers, solving strange problems, and wrangling the occasional unexpected patron.

This entry could use more information about the queer characters in this show, and it’s status.

Check out our other queer podcast recommendations here.

Please feel free to offer suggestions and updates!

[podplane]

Falling Forward is a 10-part sci-fi microfiction podcast about love, hubris, and coding too close to the sun. It was created by a fully nonbinary team: Tal Minear, Caroline Mincks, Brad Colbroock, and Anne Baird. Transcripts are here.

[arthurdrakoni]

Silly Old Bear is a delightful adaptation of the original Winnie the Pooh stories from A.A. Milne. It is great for both the young and the young at heart. This is my review.

I am a lifelong fan of Winnie the Pooh. I grew up with the Disney cartoons, and watched the video tapes constantly. Well, when I wasn’t watching Thomas the Tank Engine or The Tales of Beatrix Potter, of course. Though I’ve gotten older, there’s still very much a special place in my heart for Winnie the Pooh. So, naturally, I leapt at the opportunity to Silly Old Bear. 

Edward J. Bear, known to his friends as Winnie the Pooh, lives in a house in the forest. He has many friends, such as Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, and of course Christopher Robin. There’s lots of adventures to be had for a bear of very little brain. Pooh and friends will learn many lessons, and have many laughs, during their (mis)adventures. So, why not journey into the forest, and send some time with everyone’s favorite silly old bear? 

One fine and blustery day on Twitter, I saw a tweet. It was one of those “these people you follow also follow this” sort of tweets. It was promoting an upcoming audio drama called Silly Old Bear. It was to be an adaptation of the original Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne. It was created by @saucymincks, who has created several other audio dramas, such as @seenandnotheardpod. There was only a trailer available, but I decided to give it a listen. It was love at first sound. The gentle, calming, whimsical music perfectly capture the spirit of Winnie the Pooh. That theme music always manages to put a smile on my face whenever I hear it. And then there was the actor who played the titular silly old bear. Ashley Hunt was obviously not copying the Disney version of Pooh, but my goodness, did he ever nail Pooh’s character. The entire trailer was less than a minute long, but I was sold. I eagerly awaited launch day. 

The voice actors don’t attempt to copy the voice actors from the Disney cartoons. I suspect that this is done deliberately. That way, it helps to give Silly Old Bear its own unique identity. Well, that, and Disney’s legal team probably wouldn’t like it if Silly Old Bear sounded too similar to the Disney cartoons. The casting in Silly Old Bear also returns Winnie the Pooh to its British roots. The Disney cartoons used American voice actors, which has lead to the misconception that Winnie the Pooh is of American origin. To the contrary, it is quite British. In fact, A.A. Milne was considered one of Britain’s finest satirists and playwrights before he wrote Winnie the Pooh. 

The cast of Silly Old Bear is a veritable who’s who of British audio drama voice actors.  We have among many others, Sarah Golding as the narrator, Felix Trench as Rabbit, and Karim Kronfli as Owl. 

Our title character is voiced by Ashley Hunt. He does an absolutely fantastic job of capturing Pooh’s child-like innocence and optimism. Piglet is voiced by Sophs Hughes, who uses they/them pronouns. They nailed Piglet’s nervous and perpetually paranoid demeanor. Their performance as Piglet was one of my absolute favorites of the entire cast. It was equal parts cute and hilarious. 

And of course I must give praise Ethan Hunt, son of Ashley Hunt, as Roo. What can I say? He is just utterly adorable. I see a very bright voice acting future for young Ethan.

Silly Old Bear fills me with warm and fuzzy feelings, and always manages to put a smile on my face. It is an absolute joy from start to finish. It is an excellent audio drama for both the young and the young at heart. You certainly won’t want to miss it if you’re a lifelong Winnie the Pooh fan. 

Have you listened to Silly Old Bear?  If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-audio-file-silly-old-bear.html?m=1

[re-dracula]

May 16: This Man Belongs to Me

This episode contains the implied death of a child. Transcript here.

This episode featured: Ben Galpin as Jonathan Harker; Bonnie Calderwood Aspinwald, Caroline Mincks, and Madi Opincaru as Vampyresses; and Karim Kronfli as Dracula. Directed by Stephen Indrisano. Dialogue editing by Stephen Indrisano. Sound design by Tal Minear. Produced by Ella Watts and Pacific S. Obadiah, with executive producers Stephen Indrisano, Tal Minear, and Hannah Wright. A Bloody FM Production.

[seenandnotheardpod]

What do Caroline Mincks, Sean Lenhart, Leslie Gideon, Sena Bryer, Steven Goldman, and Daisy Guevara all have in common?

They're all reprising their roles for season two!

What do Ishani Kanetkar, Madi Opincaru, Sami Chen, Khalila Roney, Danielle Bryn, Tim Winters, Holly Brierley, Riley CJ Kenway, Rikki Poynter, Bella Meyer, Johnny Ryals, Mystic Waterz, Alice Kyra, David Woo, Diana Bolivar, Emma Laslett, Kirsty Woolven, Kris Allison, Nikko Goldstein, Rae Witte, Tomas Villamizar, Kevin Paculan, Vanessa Benoit, and John Doyle all have in common?

They're all playing BRAND NEW CHARACTERS!

When I said "this cast is stacked", I meant it, y'all! We have an amazing group of folks lending their voices this season. We'll be sharing more details as our fundraising gets underway, so keep an eye out for those announcements and be ready to support our IGG starting TOMORROW, FEBRUARY 4!!

[starlightaudio]

Release Date + Rewards Delay

[CW: Parental death, medical issues, hospitalization]

Hey everyone,

Cassie here. Since the end of the Indiegogo, we've been hard at work getting gifts ready to send and getting our show ready to be released. Unfortunately, a series of unexpected and major incidents in Nick and I’s life have set us back significantly. The worst of the issues is that my stepdad—a wonderful, caring, incredible man who’s been in life for almost a decade—had a brain hemorrhage and is currently comatose in the hospital. I absolutely hate typing these words, but currently, we don’t know if he’s going to make it.

This is an emotionally devastating time for Nick and I, and it’s severely impacted our ability to work on the podcast. I was supposed to do dialogue editing for the show, but I’m unable to do that right now because of everything going on with our family. 

That doesn’t mean the show won’t get made—thankfully, we have some truly amazing people in our cast and crew who are going to help us out. For at least the first season, dialogue editing will be done by Caroline Mincks (voice of Sigyn) and Cole Burkhardt (sound designer and voice of Frey). 

Show Release Date

We’re still working out a firm estimated timeline for when we’ll be able to start releasing episodes, but it looks like we’re looking around early 2022. I’ll send out another update as soon as we have a firmer release date.

Indiegogo Rewards

We’re aiming to have all rewards sent out by the end of October. We’re very sorry that this is going to take longer than expected. We will get all of the rewards sent out, it will just take a little longer.

Thank You

Thank you so much for your patience.

[sditepod]

Our first episode is titled Three Superheroes Walk Into An Elevator! In this tale, three superheroes walk into an elevator, and then they do it again. What happens in between? Donate now and listen right away!

Meet the cast and crew behind this episode! It was written by Tal Minear, who happens to be the SDITE showrunner! Andrew Siañez-De La O plays Megablaze, a hero with a fiery temper. Colin J. Kelly plays Electrospark, a clever and electric hero. Anthony Carlos Fuller II plays Soul Strike, a hero strong and brave. Evan Tess Murray plays The Shadowe, a- wait, there were FOUR people in this elevator the whole time? Leslie Gideon plays Time Change, a second class time manipulator. Anna Rodriguez plays Lewis, CEO of SUPERHEARTS, a superhero dating app. Ali Fuller plays Technotide, a hero who works behind the screens. Brad Colbroock plays Respawn, a hero who's gotta go, gotta go, gotta GO! Nathan Blades plays Spencer, reporter for the Dawnstar City Times. Sawyer Greene plays Tobias, fashion designer and Spencer's plus one. Cole Burkhardt plays Riley, definitely not a super-villian. A.R. Olivieri plays Bob, definitely not a hench-person. Ryan James Horner plays Kit, Caroline Mincks plays Anne, and Jeff Van Dreason plays Miles, all people who probably should be taking the service but eh, most of the guests are already here and it's probably fine. This episode was sound designed and scored by the amazing Anna Rodriguez! You can HEAR THE SUPER POWERS! Tal Minear directed this episode and did the dialogue edit! All supporters of our crowdfunding campaign (at any tier) can listen to this episode RIGHT NOW! Those who support at $5 or more will also get access to our second episode!