The Food for Thought Project Part Four: Writer Shea Stanley

Katy Koop interviews Shea Stanley, one of the writers in The Food for Thought Project, a year-long lab for aspiring audio dramatists.This is Part Four in a four part series. Read Part One with the producers here, including more about the guest speakers mentioned in this interview. Read Part Two with writer Ashley-Ruth Bernier. Read Part Three with writer Tori Grace Nichols.


“Sometimes my grief feels as though I’ve been left alone in a room with no doors. Every time I remember that my mother is dead, it feels like I’m colliding with a wall that won’t give. There’s no escape, just a hard surface that I keep ramming into over and over, a reminder of the immutable reality that I will never see her again.”

Michelle Zauner in Crying in H Mart

Food is inherently emotional. The taste or smell or texture of it can take you back to a specific moment in time and bring all those emotions from that moment rushing back in. That’s why, especially when we’re coping with grief, food can be so important in helping you cope and sustain yourself. 

For Durham-based writer, comedian, and actor ​​Shea Stanley, when she started thinking about food, comfort, and grief for the Food for Thought series, she found herself thinking about one food in particular: the hotdog. This is because, when Stanley began thinking about the prompt for the audio drama series “I thought about food and I thought about how when I experienced a loss, I went into a lot of credit card debt because I was buying all of my meals, just sort of ordering Postmates. I was studying abroad so it was even harder to make that work.” For her, mapping out her audio drama series “was sort of like processing what that experience is like for me. It was kind of funny to me that I was in so much credit card debt because I was like getting a corndog delivered to my house. It’s just silly.”

Much like Stanley herself when she was dealing with grief, her audio drama “I’m Not Here Right Now” follows a young woman, recently out of college who “is processing her grief” from the sudden death of her mother “by fixating on what she eats and instead of cooking for herself or anything. She just goes to this shitty hotdog restaurant every day, like this college drunk food spot, which she’s at all the time. So, it’s about her and exploring what you eat”. 

Taking her own experiences with food and talking to the other writers in the cohort, Stanley was able to develop a full story really delving on how types of food and how you feed yourself connect with grief. In particular, in being a part of the workshops with Whetstone Media media founder Stephen Satterfield,  Tall Grass Food Box founder Gabrielle E.W. Carter, writer and performer Morgan Givens, and filmmaker Ashley Melzer all provided necessary insight into the writing process. As Stanley explains, “all the different speakers have been different experts on food, writing, or both. At first, I didn’t know if the food speakers would actually be that helpful to me because I am writing about being so disconnected with food,” but she found learning all of the different perspectives enlightening. Because “all the speakers have talked about food and community, familial connections, and how everyone has food that means something to them,” Stanley was able to get deep insight into how hot dogs, “the food that is [her character’s], it’s driving her into credit card debt.” 

In addition, in creating “I’m Not Here Right Now”, she found that the writing and community that the cohort afforded her, helped her reach deadlines needed for the project. In particular, Stanley focused on outlining, “I find outlining very hard but I really wanted to get it all outlined before I started writing it because I’d not really written a several episode thing before. It felt important to have that mapped out.” In making sure she was able to get the work done, “I realized that what I have to do is write for 15 minutes at a time and let it be. So, I’ve been doing a lot of short bursts of writing.” Meeting regularly and also meeting these experts, as well as having deadlines, helped her figure out what writing worked best for handling audio. 

Overall, beyond the pilot, “I would love to have the whole season written and have it produced and be available for people to listen to,” so that the story could be fully realized.

Stay tuned for more updates to the Food for Thought project and future audio series on the Artist Soapbox website, our patreon, and on social platforms. 

Katy Koop

Katy Koop is a theatre artist and writer based in North Carolina. Her writing has been published on websites like Electric Literature, Hello Giggles, Indy Week, and more. Her plays have been performed virtually and in North Carolina, NYC, and Minneapolis. She most recently attended the Kennedy Center Summer Playwriting intensive as a member of the BIPOC cohort and is currently pursuing her MS in Technical Communication at NCSU. You can find her tweeting at @katykooped and more of her work at katykoop.com

If you’d like to hear more, listen to the podcast episode: 151: Writing your first audio drama: Aspiring audio dramatists discuss the Food for Thought Project. This project is generously supported by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.

 

Artist Soapbox

Artist Soapbox is a platform for original scripted audio fiction and an opportunity for artists to discuss their creative work in their own voices. We do this through our interview podcast, our blog, live events, and original audio dramas.

Artist Soapbox is an anti-racist organization. We believe Black Lives Matter. In addition, as a podcast production company, ASBX has signed the Equality in Audio Pact on Broccoli Content.

Artist Soapbox is more than just a podcast.

We lead writers groups, accountability support, workshops, and events. We produce and create audio dramas too! Listen to the Master BuilderThe New Colossus Audio Drama, Jesus Pancake, Declaration of Love, Food for Thought, and ASBX Shorts. Stay tuned to hear about more projects written by the Soapbox Audio Collective Writers’ Group.

Audio Dramas

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Jesus Pancake

Jesus Pancake is the newest scripted audio fiction series from Artist Soapbox. Nine episodes of zany dark comedy.

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The New Colossus

The New Colossus Audio Drama is a totally unhinged dark comedy reboot of Anton Chekhov’s classic play, THE SEAGULL.

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Master Builder

This audio drama was adapted from Tamara’s 2018 stage play produced by Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern and inspired by Henrick Ibsen’s classic, The Master Builder published in 1892.

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Declaration of Love

Co-producers Aurelia Belfield and Tamara Kissane of Artist Soapbox commissioned eleven NC playwrights to craft short audio scenes based on the prompt “Declaration of Love.”

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Food for Thought

Three pilot episodes of new scripted audio fiction series inspired by the prompt Food for Thought.

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ASBX Shorts

ASBX Shorts are six short audio fiction pieces created and produced by North Carolina artists. Artist Soapbox Shorts were specifically contributed by the artists to aid in fundraising and to get everyone excited about Jesus Pancake, our new audio fiction series in development.

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