Place-based audio drama with social impact
What we do
Applied Stories makes unforgettable audio drama for your space, wherever it is.
Who we do it for
Whether you're a school, a business, a city museum, a local authority or a whole high street, Applied Stories can bring your spaces alive with nothing more than earbuds and a smartphone.
What it's like
From audio walking tours, to audio installations to podcasts, we send audiences back in time, walking with ghosts, discovering untold stories and hidden places, all while connecting with one other. We use simple, everyday tech, accessible to all.
Our Ethos
Applied Stories prioritises inclusion, diversity and social impact. Stories are where we encounter one another. We want our audiences to see places and people around them anew. Most of our projects involve co-creation of content with community participants, placing them at the heart of the creative process.
Audio is great value
Our project formats can accommodate large group sizes, with the audio files living permanently in the cloud for future use. This makes commissioning us great value for money, with low cost per head and high longevity.
How to work with us
Applied Stories can build an audio format to suit your organisation's or group's needs. We have a variety of off-the-shelf formats to suit all budgets, or can offer a bespoke quote. We can also work with you to fundraise, where necessary. Please get in touch to discuss your requirements.
Image credits: www.bettinaadelaphotography.co.uk
Applied Stories is for...
Education Professionals
Councils and Communities
Councils and Communities
From a one-off workshop to a full company residency, browse the Applied Stories formats for primary and secondary schools, colleges and Universities.
Councils and Communities
Councils and Communities
Councils and Communities
Whether it's a grass roots writers' group in a community centre, or a co-created geolocative audio walk to reanimate a High Street, Applied Stories has a format to suit your local area.
Arts Organisations
Councils and Communities
Museums and Heritage
With 20 years experience across professional and participatory theatre, BBC Radio and independent podcasts, Applied Stories can offer everything from bespoke community commissions, to consultancy on diversifying your organisation's creative practice and networks.
Museums and Heritage
Museums and Heritage
Museums and Heritage
Our audio tour formats are well suited to museums and galleries wishing to bring their exhibits to life with immersive short dramas to enhance the visitor experience. We can also animate outdoor exhibits such as public statues.
Podcasts
Museums and Heritage
Workshops
Discover our independent audio drama formats, with clients as diverse as The National Archives, the Audio Content Fund, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Listen to our past work for free, and read about how to commission your own.
Workshops
Museums and Heritage
Workshops
Applied Stories runs regular online writing workshops for all ages and abilities, in all aspects of dramatic writing. Whether you're a curious beginner, seasoned professional, or a teacher looking for professional development, our online workshop offer has something for everyone, at affordable prices, with bursary places available.
Listening Parties
Listening Parties
Listening Parties
Book an online Listening Party - a gathered listening experience of an audio drama of your choice with friends, colleagues or others, followed by an exclusive Q&A with members of the play's creative team.
About Us
Fin Kennedy, Artistic Director
Applied Stories' founder and Artistic Director Fin Kennedy is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg and producer. His plays for adults and teenagers are produced around the world, and his audio dramas on BBC Radio 4. His specialism is working with schools and communities to co-create new plays telling the stories of the UK's many diasporas.
Fin was previously Artistic Director of touring theatre company Tamasha, where he founded Tamasha Digital, and the Tamasha Playwrights group, with whom he pioneered numerous interactive audio drama formats and independent podcast brands.
His many plays for teenagers are regularly produced by schools around the world.
Get in touch: fin@appliedstories.co.uk
Our Network
Applied Stories' many collaborators include the brightest and best diverse new writing talent from across the British theatre and TV industries, many of them personally trained by our Artistic Director Fin Kennedy.
We can source writers from specific diasporas, faiths or cultures, or with certain lived experience, or from specific areas of the UK, depending on your project's requirements.
All script development is overseen by our Artistic Director, an experienced dramaturg, who is also available to join or lead writing teams as appropriate.
Publications
Discover our founder's back catalogue of plays and other writings, many of which were where he tested and developed Applied Stories' unique creative practice.