Rowhome Newsletter | Spring 2023
It's been an exciting year so far at Rowhome. In this edition: our BillyPenn profile, new shows in the world, announcing our Rowhome Fellow, & more!
Photo by PJ Agbay
BillyPenn Feature || “Philly’s hot podcast studio”
Philly journalist Alisha Miranda interviewed Rowhome’s co-founders about the company’s origins, what they’ve been working on, and how they hope to help grow Philly’s audio storytelling scene. The short profile was published in BillyPenn and accompanied by PJ Agbay’s lovely photos.
Inside Look || WHYY’s The Statue
Earlier this year, we joined forces with WHYY Digital Studios to work on The Statue, an epic six-episode podcast series hosted by Paul Farber, the Director of Monument Lab, that explores the question: Why do we memorialize some stories over others? The show explores that question through a deep dive into the world of Philly’s iconic Rocky Statue and the legacy, myths, and stories associated with it.
We had so much fun contributing sound design and mixing to this ambitious project. Former Philly (and now Vermont-based) producer Jon Ehrens helped build the sonic world of the show using material including field recordings collected by the Rowhome team and remixes of the Rocky theme song “Gonna Fly Now”.
Paul Farber, Director of Monument Lab and Host of The Statue.
Rowhome’s Alex Lewis and John Myers with the Rocky Statue.
Tune In || Recently Released Projects
We worked with Pushkin Industries on Where There’s A Will, a show that searches for Shakespeare in exciting places beyond the theater. The sprawling eight episode series asks The Northman director Robert Eggers (and others) why Hamlet is still a thing, grapples with Shakespeare and gender with guests including Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider, spotlights the next generation making Shakespeare theirs, & takes listeners back to 19th-century Astor Place in New York City.
Barry Edelstein, artistic director at The Old Globe, one of the country’s leading Shakespeare theaters, and co-host Em Weinstein ask what is it about Shakespeare that’s given him a continuous afterlife in all sorts of unexpected ways?
Rowhome was honored to be tapped by Emmy-nominated host and New York Times bestselling author, Baratunde Thurston to be a production partner on a brand-new season of How to Citizen, a podcast for people tired of tuning in to bad news and, instead, are looking for new and better ways to “citizen” – as a verb.
Through meaningful conversations and insightful
moments, Baratunde shows listeners how to wield their collective power to make
the world a better place. This season, Baratunde focuses on how to create a culture of democracy in communities, workplaces, homes and within the listener themselves. Guests include writer & activist adrienne maree brown, Princeton professor Ruha Benjamin, NBA legend Steve Kerr, & more.
After a successful first season of How Is That Legal?, we were thrilled that Community Legal Services of Philadelphia quickly reached out to us about making eight more episodes.
In Season 2 of the show, CLS Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer Kee Tobar and guests continue to examine systemic racism in public housing, education, disability law & more. This season includes interviews with PA State Senator Nikil Saval, Law professor Erika K Wilson, & Lauren DeBruicker, the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Deputy Civil Chief for Civil Rights.
In Production || Coming Soon
A new storytelling podcast with one of our all-time favorite Philly organizations: Mighty Writers. A documentary podcast series with WXPN featuring their inaugural cohort of Black Opry Residents. A brand new season of BlackStar’s Many Lumens. These are just a few of the projects that we’re so excited to share with the world soon.
Learn more at the links above and subscribe where you can so you don’t miss anything.
Danya AbdelHameid || Rowhome Fellow
Everyone give a warm welcome to our 2023 Rowhome Fellow: Danya AbdelHameid!
Danya is an audio producer and writer from Virginia, by way of Sudan. She almost became a scientist and loves telling stories about the messy ways science intersects with culture and history. They’ve worked as an associate producer and fact checker on a handful of shows, including season 4 of How To Citizen with Baratunde (with Rowhome!), Good Words with Kirk Franklin, and the award-winning independent science podcast In Those Genes. They strive to create work that does too much, is carefree, and produced for, with, and in community.
Danya will be working with Rowhome across our slate of projects including producing pieces for the Association for Public Art and the Enterprise Center as well as assisting with podcast series for both WXPN and BlackStar.
Poster by Benedict Kupstas
Upcoming Event! || Philly Podcast Mixer
Come hang out at the Pen & Pencil Club (1522 Latimer Street) this Thursday, March 30th for our first ever Philly Podcast Mixer. It’s a chance to mingle with other local audio storytellers, podcast producers, radio reporters … basically anyone interested in audio-making is welcome.
We’ll be there from 7pm onward. Please register below so we know how many trays of hoagies to provide!