Hello and welcome to WORDTheatre Weekly: The Short Story Podcast where great authors and actors meet! You might notice that my voice sounds a bit different…that’s because we are turning over the podcast to WORDTheatre Staff and interns for the summer! I’m your first host, Alex Kauffman. I’m a rising senior at Emory University studying Creative Writing and Film. Here at WordTheatre, I do video editing and podcast episode research.

This week we’re bringing you “The History Of Sound” by Ben Shattuck, read by actors Barrett Foa and Jason Butler Harner. Barrett can be seen in The Residence and NCIS: Los Angeles, and you may know Jason from his roles in Ozark and Changeling. This story has been adapted into a film starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, which will come out later this year. We chose “The History of Sound” for this week in honor of LGBT Pride as the month of June comes to a close.

Please note that WORDTheatre holds the copyright to these recordings and no portion of anything you hear on WORDTheatre Weekly, our short story podcast, may be reproduced without permission.

And now, here is “The History Of Sound” read by Barrett Foa and Jason Butler Harner.

FOA and HARNER PERFORM THE STORY.

And once again, the story you just heard is titled “The History of Sound,” written by Ben Shattuck, and performed by Barrett Foa and Jason Butler Harner. If you're enjoying what you're hearing on the WORDTheatre Weekly Podcast, write us a review and tell your friends about us!

If you want to learn more about WORDTheatre and our upcoming live events, please visit WORDTheatre.org or if you are based in the UK, visit WORDTheatreUK.org. If you would like to support our podcast, live events, and our live and digital programming for students with WORDTheatre Campus, please consider signing up to become a Patron or Enthusiast Member, and you will be able to watch recordings of almost all our LIVE events from the comfort of your own home. If you’re on social media, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. If you'd like to pick up books by the authors that you hear on this podcast, visit Bookshop in the US or the UK and look for the WORDTheatre affiliate page. You’ll be helping two non-profits!

On behalf of Cedering Fox and Kirsty Peart, thank you to the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Randy & Jane Sinisi and Phiphen Studios, our Executive Coordinator Scout Riley, and our Podcast Editor, Alyssa Monteiro.Thank you for listening. This is Alex Kauffman, signing off!