The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Filling a kids’ media void
Girl Tales podcast puts feminist twist on classic fairy tales
EAST HAMPTON — A popular podcast produced by a former resident is gearing up for another season after reaching an unanticipated 10,000 listeners.
Girl Tales is a free children’s podcast that puts a feminist twist on classic fairy tales by making girl, transgender and nonbinary characters the heroes of the story. Each episode is adapted by a different playwright and acted out by multiple actors.
Girl Tales founder Rebecca Cunningham describes it as an “old-school radio play.” Cunningham, who grew up in Old Bridge, N.J., teamed up with East Hampton native Chad Chenail to produce the podcast. They met in college while attending Pace University in Manhattan.
The Girl Tales concept was Cunningham’s idea, but with the help of Chenail, the podcast took flight. Cunningham is the director and host, while Chenail holds the title
of producer, working the audio-tech portions of the recording sessions and creating the sound schemes. “Chad literally creates the entire world,” Cunningham said.
The idea for the podcast came about after a series of interactions between Cunningham and the children she cared for during her five years as a nanny. While caring for one child not allowed to watch television, Cunningham struggled to occupy the him long enough so she could cook dinner.
“I knew I loved podcasts, so I searched if kids’ podcasts were a thing, and it turned out they were. He was captivated and just sat there for 35 minutes. You would think that it would not work, but it’s pretty incredible. It’s a magic tool for sure,” Chenail said.
Cunningham thought she found the perfect solution to screen time, and played with the idea of creating her own podcast. While caring for another little girl, she recalled the girl wanting to reenact the Rapunzel story and asking her to act out the part of the prince, her “hero.”
“I asked her how she could save herself, and she looked at me like I had six heads,” Cunningham said.
But the real motivation came after the last presidential election as Cunningham held a young girl in her charge while she watched Hillary Clinton’s televised concession speech. “And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams,” Clinton said.
“I knew that I couldn’t not do anything. I had to make sure that the little girl and all the other kids I cared for grew up in a world where they knew that they were capable of anything they wished to do,” Cunningham said.
She also credits her grandmother, mother and sister. “They all fought really hard for the things they wanted in life. My grandmother’s case was limited in terms of what dreams she could chase, and so she raised four daughters and she swore that they would never go through the same thing and those daughters raised more daughters,” Cunningham said.
“There’s a really long line of strong women in my family, and I look to them every day for advice in making this podcast,” she added.
Chenail was also inspired by his mother as well as Epoch Arts, a nonprofit theater arts organization in his hometown of East Hampton. “My mother told me every day that I’m worthy of doing whatever I want to do, and the power that gave me is the inspiration behind trying to empower these girls,” he said.
“Epoch Arts has done an incredible job giving opportunities to kids and teens to generate art instead of just reading from someone else’s script. Everything they do is so collaborative
that I think it gave me a lot of courage to jump in and make something instead of just running with something that already exists,” Chenail said.
They both agree, however, that ultimately, it is the child listeners who motivate them on a daily basis. “We are trying to think of one kid and what does that kid really need to hear? We want to fill in the void that children’s media is lacking,” Cunningham said.
Next season, the duo are creating a story for a child who was born female but identifies as a boy, according to Cunningham. “He’s a huge fan and he’s our inspiration,” she said.
“Everyone gets something out of this. Girls have spent so much time identifying with male characters in stories that there’s no
hesitance in boy listeners getting a lot out of the tales, too. It’s feminist-focused, but everyone is included in the adventure of the tale,” Chenail said.
“My favorite so far is the Literate Mermaid. It’s the tale of the Little Mermaid except Ariel wants legs, so she can get a library card. She’s seen books, but by the time the books get to the bottom of the ocean, all the ink has washed off, and she just wants to be able to read. I think it’s a great twist,” he said.
Girl Tales can be found on Facebook at girltalespodcast or subscribe to the mailing list at girltalespodcast.com. To find out when a new episode is up, subscribe on iTunes or Google Play. Season two premiers in January.