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- Bobby's Snacks Vol. 48: A Bright Room
Bobby's Snacks Vol. 48: A Bright Room
Bob Raymonda
June 14, 2026
Happy #AudioDramaSunday pals!
Words can’t really express what kind of mind boggling experience the last month has been. I found out on Thursday this past week that I’m officially back on the job market (albeit with a bit of a runway until September). There’s no hard feelings, it was a budgetary decision more than anything else. It’s incredibly nerve wracking to be in this position again only two years after being let go from the New York Botanical Garden for similar reasons—especially having a brand new kid—but there have already been meetings with more potential opportunities, and I’m lucky enough to have a village around me to help in times like this, should it come to that. I’ll be fine.
So it goes.
I’m okay.
More than okay, if I’m being honest? My career has been defined by moments like this one. I flirted with the agency life in my early twenties, experienced some extreme burnout, and left that job for one with a lower salary so I could focus on creating Breadcrumbs, the literary magazine that I ran for 6+ years. Sometime later, I found myself voluntarily leaving a cushy client services gig at Indeed because an “unlimited” PTO request was denied for my first trip to Austin Film Festival way back in 2017. In 2026? I found out this news after two days of incredibly life-affirming meetings alongside Jack Marone & Adam Raymonda during the 25th annual Tribeca Film Festival as part of this year’s Tribeca Creators Market. And while I wish I’d had more time to spend going to official screenings, premieres, and cocktail hours, I’m so grateful for that time that we were able to spend advocating for the work that we have already done, and the work we’re yet to do.
I’ve spent so long experiencing impostor syndrome for never having taken my writing to the kind of level where it supports my life enough to not need a survival job (don’t you just love the American healthcare system?), but weeks like this one remind me that the last fifteen years of my artistic career have not been in vain. Even if I’ve had to grit my teeth and inhabit a DIY-until-I-die mindset, I’ve never let that stop me from making cool things with people that I adore. And now? People are starting to pay attention. And hopefully? That tide will continue to turn. And even if that still takes years of persistence and rejection? That’s okay too. Because it’s clear that our team is doing something right.
A massive, massive shoutout to Davy Gardner and the entire Tribeca Audio team for making us feel such a warm welcome. And to a lot of other people too, who you’ll read more about as we:
Get to the good stuff.
We’ve been sitting on this one for a long time. I approached Jade Madison Scott about the idea of meshing our two worlds together while we were still deep in drafting for Forgive Me! season 4, and she turned around this utterly perfect script in what felt like no time. And shockingly? Our team didn’t have a single note. She has such a singular voice and bringing a character like Marisol (albeit a little older and wiser than the last time we’ve seen her) into St. Pat’s just made perfect sense. I’m particularly proud of Adam Raymonda for the work he did on the mashup theme tune for this one. He turned it around just as quickly, and had my kid and I dancing while I fed her dinner when we heard it for the first time.
I’m going to be so careful about how I write this review, as it’s for an episode that hasn’t yet been released to the public. I was lucky enough to attend the NYC-screening of the season finale after our first day of meetings with Jack Marone, Lauren Shippen, Mac Rogers, and several other fantastic folks from the industry. Listening to such a propulsive and tense conclusion in a room full of people (coloring a black and white version of the logo, thanks to executive producer-extraordinaire Eleanor Hyde) was incredibly satisfying. And I already cannot wait to listen to it again later this week when it drops for the public. Gabriel Urbina, as he always does, hurts us deliciously, while promising some fantastical adventures to come. Major props to Jeffrey Nils Gardner, who threads this wonderful monstrosity together with the finest of sonic toothed combs.
While I didn’t catch the festival premiere of this show, I did have a chance to catch up with series creators Marcus and Megan Bagala later in the week. First and foremost: they’re a lovely couple who are also deep in the early-parenthood trenches, so we had a lot to bond over. But better than that? Their official selection is stunningly beautiful. In a world that’s been wracked by nuclear warfare in 1987, two lone astronauts and their helpful (if grating) AI scour the surface of the planet in an attempt to find and communicate with any survivors. It’s melancholic, sure, but it’s also chock full of hope in a world that needs it now more than ever. I can already tell how much I’m going to love David, Sarah, and SAI over the course of their journey. You should absolutely put this one in your queue.
THE VERY WORST THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN was already one of my favorite things to ever come out of Tribeca Audio back in 2023, so seeing that Winnie & Alex Kemp of Wolf at the Door Productions had another show premiere this year had me immediately queuing it up this morning. The first two episodes are funny and weird and unsettling with magnificent performances and a wellness cult that is clearly more than it seems. Plus? Doppelgängers turned workplace nemeses? The promise of potential murder? Everything here is speaking my language. It’s no surprise that the team won 2026’s Audio Fiction award during the festival.
Oh hey, look at that! August Year Round Productions’ charming queer series has returned for a third season of life at the Bourbon Street Boarding house. Lucas is torn between a potential new beau and the love of his life who moved back home the year before just as things were starting to heat up. The show continues to be a warm hug, and adds gay-VA royalty Briggon Snow to the cast for this go around. I’ve only heard the premiere so far, but I’m so glad to know that it’s back and here to continue giving me low-stakes drama that feels like the highest stakes in the world, for the kids living through it.
This week’s crowning achievement came on Friday night at KGB Bar alongside ~40ish colleagues, friends, and family members who all braved the gnarly NYC heat (and a brief albeit intense thunder storm) to listen to Harper and her demon Havoc get couples counseling from our very own Father Ben, after a brief but much-appreciated introduction by festival organizer Davy Gardner. It was Lauren Shippen’s first time performing in front of an audience in eleven years, but you wouldn’t ever have been able to tell it from the way she was able to command the room. The chemistry between she and Casey Callaghan was effortless from the first second. We did a brief Q&A afterward, moderated by our friend Gabriel Urbina, and then got to spend the rest of the night schmoozing with everyone who came out to enjoy the evening. Adam Raymonda made another super fun version of a crossover theme, and Jack Marone and I got to watch our baby brought to life in a room full of people laughing at all the right bits. A gift I could never ever repay. Not to mention when Lauren’s dad caught up with me at the bar to tell me how he’s already listened to our entire show. Such a surreal experience, and the culmination of so many years of work. I’m feeling so full.
BONUS SNACK
I’ve been obsessed with George Saunders since undergrad, so every time he has a new novel it’s a must-read for me. That being said, finding time to read with a thirteen month old can be tough, so while it’s under 200 pages, I started it back in March and only finished this past weekend. It’s a gorgeous, ghostly take on the afterlife… or at least, those last few moments leading up to it. It’s wry, it’s funny, it’s dark, and the two times that I sat down with it I didn’t not want to stop.