This new podcast is looking to keep spooky season alive all year

Simplified: A Sioux Falls writer is teaming up with local actors to create a monster-themed podcast in the style of 1940s radio storytelling.

Tell me more

Writer Mo Hurley had the idea for Monstrous Midwest Radio Theatre this summer while working on a play with flashbacks to a 1940s radio drama.

Hurley took that inspiration and created a podcast anthology series telling monster stories set in the Midwest.

Why it matters

• The show taps into Sioux Falls' existing theater talent, giving actors a chance to showcase their storytelling abilities in a strictly audio format. Each episode will be voiced by a different actor.
• Sioux Falls-based podcasters have been around for awhile, but Hurley is among the first locally to tap into the realm of fiction podcasting.
• Though her background is writing children's books, she's created this show specifically for young adults (and adults young at heart) in the vein of '80s and '90s thrillers – but told like an old-school radio show.

"I don't think I ever grew out of the 'Goosebumps' phase," Hurley said.

What happens next?

The first episode, "The Growler," will be released later this month, with subsequent episodes to follow monthly.

• Episode one is a story about a Midwestern brewery in which workers, after a series of accidents and mishaps, start to wonder if the monster they made up to blame things on is actually real.
• It'll be voiced by local actor Marisa Moser, who met Hurley through the local theater scene.

"I think coming off of the pandemic and everything, we kind of have a renewed interest in radio shows and podcasts," Moser said, adding that the Monstrous Midwest Radio Show combines performance with literature in its format. "This is sort of the only one of its kind at this moment."