Lost among the Penny Dreadfuls – Marjorie Van Halteren

summer 2018

“People need to be able to count on it, don’t they?”

“Yes, but I feel like the podcasting world has become a kind of Penny Dreadful.”

“Oh we do like those, don’t we?”

This is the middle of a conversation Marjorie Van Halteren has—with herself.

Imagine sitting in her courtyard with Marjorie as she surmises the instance of listening and making radio; of making, now, a podcast that meanders through sound artistry—often a duet with herself and another artist, in and around her adopted home of Lille, France.

Her episodes don’t care so much if you don’t speak her languages and those of her cohorts—English and French—as they compose a conversation, eventually a performance; though it’s never not clear.

When invited to participate in a conversation about her experimenting in independent podcasting for Earlid’s Radio without Scaffolding, this podcaster made an audible message and slipped it into a bottle and sailed it over the ocean.

Aside from working in radio drama and stand-up comedy, being a founding producer of WNYC’s long-running Selected Shorts, a founding member of the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), and moving towards live improvisation, one of Van Halteren’s life highlights is having met John Cage, among other sound-centric luminaries.


That Tuesday is 9-episodes full with a promise of two more. Visit Marjorie Van Halteren for more projects