Industry Guests
Katie Leigh
Katie Leigh is a multi-faceted voiceover veteran. She is beloved as Connie Kendall in the world’s longest running international radio drama, Adventures in Odyssey. Other roles she's played include Baby Rowlf in the Emmy Award-Winning Jim Henson's Muppet Babies cartoon series, Honker Muddlefoot in Darkwing Duck, Sheila the Thief in Dungeons and Dragons, Richie in Richie Rich, Sunni Gummi of Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Alex in Totally Spies and young Han Solo for Lego Star Wars: Padawan Menace, and many others.
Phil Lollar
Phil Lollar has created, written, produced, and performed in dozens of kids audio/video series, including The Little Angels, Adventures in Odyssey (AIO), Jungle Jam and Friends, Little Dogs on the Prairie, Tom and Jerry, and Space Racers. Two of those series have been credited with re-inventing the art of radio drama: the hit comedy Jungle Jam and Friends and Focus on the Family’s dramatic series Adventures in Odyssey. Lollar co-created AIO, has written more than 200 episodes, and directed more than 300. Other series he has worked on include Iliad House, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, and Elmo Aardvark, Outer Space Detective, the Internet’s first weekly animated series.
Joshua Nicholson
Joshua Nicholson has been a professional VO Artist for over a decade. Though not yet a household name in the VO world, he has worked consistently during that time, doing everything from commercials to cartoons to audiobooks to video games and everything in between. In the last few years, most of his work has been recorded in his professional home studio. He has taught lessons in the business and techniques of doing voice over throughout most of that time and recorded demos for many up-and-comers. He also loves to break out of the VO booth and perform on stage and screen.
Todd Busteed
Todd Busteed has a long-standing love of a good story. His production firm, GAP Digital, believes that the story is in charge. “We work for the story.”
Todd has been privileged to have a part in some great storytelling over the years, including the Left Behind series, Holding Esther, Adventures in Odyssey, Heirloom Audio, Lamplighter Theatre, Family Radio Theatre, AIR Theatre and many more.
You can find his voice on two dramatized recordings of the Bible, occasional characters in drama productions, and a growing collection of audiobooks.
When not recording stories, Todd enjoys announcing live sporting events across the country, riding ridiculous miles on his bike, and meeting as many dogs as possible.
Audio Theatre Central is a podcast and blog which explores family-friendly audio drama. Launched in 2010, the podcast is hosted by JD, Roy, and Andrew and features commentary and reviews on recent productions, exclusive interviews with cast and crew, and news on upcoming releases. The goal of audiotheatrecentral.com is to stimulate conversation and discussion among fans of the audio drama medium, share about shows that you might not know about, and to give you a more in-depth look into the production of high-quality shows like Adventures in Odyssey, Lamplighter Theatre, Jonathan Park, and more. We'll even talk about Old Time Radio on occasion. If you love good, clean audio drama then Audio Theatre Central is for you!
In 2017, the ATC hosts, along with a committee of other industry critics, launched the Audio Theatre Central Seneca Awards, an annual awards show to recognize excellence in the world of family-friendly audio drama. More info about the awards can be found at thesenecas.org.
Cindy Finley is both the executive director and the executive producer for RiverCross. In addition to leading the ministry, Cindy casts vision, raises funds and assures that every production meets RiverCross’s standards for excellence and effectiveness in their mission to build bridges to hope for the world’s vulnerable children. Cindy was drawn to RiverCross because she knows that story has the power to change lives, and audio dramas are particularly effective. As a long-time fan of Adventures in Odyssey, she is thrilled to be able to produce programs written, directed and produced by Kathy Buchanan, Marshal Younger and Todd Busteed.
Todd Smith serves as founding Chair of the Department of Studio & Digital Arts as well as the founding Director of the Liberty University Art Gallery and Permanent Art Collection. He has been involved in research and creative activities with emerging technology and new media on the local, regional and national level.
Kornel Gerstner has a passion for teaching and incorporates new technology in his courses along with his sound technician experience. He has been teaching residential courses since 2007 and online courses since 2011. He has taught audio and video production as well as speech communication courses. Additionally, he recently completed his terminal M.F.A. degree in Motion Pictures and Television, with an emphasis in editing.
Clifford Stumme is a podcaster, blogger, professor, and YouTuber with 161k subscribers. He promotes music with deep, relatable lyrics, and he’s an avowed audiophile.
