Local zombie radio drama is taking off

And you thought radio dramas were a thing of the past. With the ability to download digital content, upload it to an iPod, and listen to the drama wherever you happen to be, the creators of “We’re Alive” are rejuvenating a forgotten form of storytelling. The plot is this: three reserve soldiers are sent to Los Angeles to break up a riot that turns out be nothing more than a little zombie apocalypse in-the-making. Forced to bunker down in an apartment building with a mismatched group of people, they struggle to survive on a daily basis.

“We’re Alive” is a modern rendition of an old-school medium. Maintaining a style that is both retro and contemporary, the radio drama will give horror fans the campy, kitschy style they like, but it also provides a variety of characters and development to keep general audiences engaged. The show is narrated by Michael, a reserve soldier who spent time in Iraq and is in the midst of completing his bachelor’s degree (a feat that he has been working on for eight years). Our lead is calm, cool, and collected—the dutiful soldier who reasons through the catastrophe. Still, he admits to freezing up the first time he sees the scarred, white-eyed zombies attacking a helpless victim.

It is remarkable how much drama can come from a radio drama. Despite not being able to see the action, the excitement and intensity is still sustained through score and sound design. In some ways, the lack of visuals to accompany the audio creates more suspense. The narrator controls how much the audience knows, slowly teasing out information. Accompanying the drama are sparse moments of comedic relief, such as soldier Saul’s matter-of-fact description of zombies ripping people apart. Expressing a keen awareness of the zombie subgenre, many of the jokes come from familiar scenarios and tropes of zombie stories.

Director/Writer/Producer Kc Wayland and Producer/Actor Shane Salk began “We’re Alive” as a trilogy of films. Through the development of a script, they quickly realized that the reality of producing the material would be difficult. Wayland imagined that if only studios were able to experience a script, rather than simply read it, he could better pitch the story. “At the time I had been listening to a lot of books on tape and was thinking to myself how great it is to be able to tell a story so efficiently without massive production costs,” Wayland remembers. When he presented the idea to Salk, the response was enthusiastic, as he recalled listening to “Gunsmoke” and “The Phantom” radio dramas as a child. “We could have the characters and story go anywhere in the world without the restraints of having to film it. We could produce and entire series without being a studio and without much of a budget.”

Drawing character inspiration from his own life, Wayland remembered his own struggles after returning overseas from the military: “I had gone from Baghdad to the classroom in less than a month and the transition was quite difficult.” That character depth is what really makes “We’re Alive” pop from the headphones, as the Producers wanted to create a show that would appeal to zombie fans, as well as those weary of the gore and violence. Wayland says, “Listeners time and time again tell me how they doubted it when they downloaded it, but then realized how it was more about the characters and their struggles.”

However, creating a world with only sound does have its challenges. “It has been difficult to tell the story rather than showing,” Wayland explains, “Having received a degree in Writing and Directing, I was constantly taught how to do the opposite.” A film school graduate from Chapman University, Wayland found himself in a foreign medium, where he had to relearn many of his storytelling tools. He claims that much of the credit is indebted to his talented cast of characters, who turn the pages of a script into an emotional reality. “They are the best bunch of actors I could have ever hoped for.”

“We’re Alive” may have had a slow start, but as word of mouth spread throughout forums, blogs, and other media sites, the radio drama has seen a lot of success. Averaging around 1,000 hits a day, the producers are happy to offer a new flavor of storytelling to the zombie genre. The show will be released on CD and pitched as a potential TV series. Head on over to the official site and after listening to a couple episodes, see if you’re not hooked.