From Lea Thau, Peabody award-winning producer and former Director of The Moth, comes her new storytelling baby, Strangers, part of KCRW’s Independent Producer Project and of PRX’s Radiotopia collective.
Each episode is an empathy shot in your arm, featuring true stories about about the people we meet, the connections we make, the heartbreaks we suffer, the kindnesses we encounter, and those frightful moments when we discover that WE aren’t even who we thought we were. Subscribe in iTunes, join us on Facebook or SoundCloud. All episodes below.
Assistant Producer Luisa Beck. Musical supervisor Myke Dodge Weiskopf. Strangers is supported by The Leon Lowenstein Foundation, the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, the Annenberg Foundation, the Goldhirsh Foundation and the Roth Family Foundation.
Latest Episode:
Love - Good and Bad
For Valentine’s Day we return to the theme of love, with a story about someone else’s heartbreak for a change. As for Lea's heart, well, you’ll see….
Featured Episodes:
The Long Shadow
Murder, music, mystery. A controversial event in 1997 changed the fate of two band mates.
Liz Fletcher: Little Orphan Edie, a Valentine's Story
A tale of true love spanning four decades, two countries, and classic racial divides...
Matjames and Tyler: Flee, Flood, Float
A story about the places we go and the people we find. (Sorry we don't want to give it away, just listen, please.)
Henry and Jane
A 40-year-old stroke victim demonstrates that a sense of humor can be the last thing to go.
Terry's Treasure
Producer Lea Thau embarks on a strange online dating adventure.
Recent Episodes:
A version of this story was previously featured on Season 1 of Strangers. A version of this story was previously featured on Season 1 of Strangers.A Father’s Story - Then and Now
To mark the three-year anniversary of Strangers we share with you the very first story ever featured on the show, about Stephen Rochelle and his son Matthew, and we return to Stephen to see how they're doing now, three years later. In July 2011, Matthew Rochelle stood trial for murder. This is the story of what happened from the point of view of his father. How did his sweet little boy end up in this place? How do you cope when your own child becomes a stranger? Can you make a difference if you do everything in your power to get him back?
Love Hurts — The Follow-Up
Lea received hundreds of messages in response to her raw, personal four-part series, "Love Hurts." In this follow-up episode, she strings together the funny, poignant and moving voice mails she received from listeners in response to the series and tries to make sense of this thing called love, finally. She also gives an update on her most recent dating adventure…
The Mind Shaft
Greg O'Brien was in his late 50s when strange things started happening…
Alaska Bingo
Sam Feirstein takes a broken heart to Alaska and finds surprising kindness in “enemy territory.” Also, producer Lea Thau takes a broken heart to India and has a “stranger” experience that inspires her to create this show.
Screaming with Professionals
For Halloween, we give you a ghost story of sorts. Not in the traditional sense, but we think you’ll know what we mean when you hear it. As a little boy, Bill Ratner experienced a series of tragedies. Then he learned to scream….
Falling Slowly
Strangers, at its core, is about the beauty and the struggle of human connection and what happens in those moments when we get closer to someone else, or, say, further removed from ourselves. Often that change is subtle and slow, but sometimes it is sudden and monumental. Here is Lyena Strelkoff. Check out Lyena’s blog.
Big Jim and Smokey Joe
A waitress, a former bomber pilot and a retired railroad engineer embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Story told by Jennefer Ludwigsen.
Love Hurts 4
In this final installment of Love Hurts, Lea talks to a guy SHE turned down.
Love Hurts 3
In this third installment of Love Hurts, Lea seeks dating advice from two experts and lets it all hang out. Love Hurts is a series in which Lea investigates why she is single. We recommend listening to the episodes in order.
Love Hurts 2
Lea Thau tells more stories from her love life and interviews yet another guy who turned her down.
Love Hurts
While doing a story about online dating, Lea gets her heart broken (yet again).
Kenna Fisher: Renaissance Woman
Kenna, formerly known as Ken, came out 5 years ago. This is her story.
Two Men and a Baby
Two young men receive a surprise delivery. And it's a newborn. Whaaa!
Cora Leighton: The Gift
A stripper and a tattoo artist have a fateful encounter.
Jenni Rowell: Life, Interrupted
Jenni Rowell had surgery last year that altered her appearance forever. She wrote to us and said " I have a story about seeing a stranger every time I look in the mirror." As we worked on her story, things took a turn for the worse...
Born Rich (or Poor): Moby, Jamie Johnson & others
Just how fabulous is it to be fabulously rich? 4 stories of wealth--inherited and earned.
Anniversary Episode: Strangers Revisited
An online dater finds love after 16 years, and an exonerated prisoner goes to see the former District Attorney.
Alfredo Corchado: Midnight in Mexico
An immigrant boy receives an offer he can't refuse.
Andrew and Akina Cox: Meet the Moonies
A hip young artist couple find themselves in an arranged marriage.
Andrea Askowitz: Be My Baby
A woman finds her way to the all-american, suburban, lesbian life.
Altruism
Does true altruism exist? Here are three stories that say yea, nay, and just maybe...
Gay Talese: Committed Voyeur
Legendary non-fiction writer, Gay Talese, discusses his marriage, his work, and the scandals that have made waves in both.
Franky Carrillo: Life
A man spends 20 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, but comes out ahead...
Alec Ledd, Moby: A.K.A.
Moby shares moments with strangers, Alec Ledd goes Jewish for Barbara Streisand.
Lauren Whaley, Jake de Grazia, VS. Dobbs: Love
Three stories of heart break and true love.
David Terry: Jesus
The son of missionaries is taken to Greece at age 5 and returns to the U.S. in the 8th grade with a mullet and a Jesus shirt. And that's just the beginning...
