51社区

Alumni and Friends | News and Announcements

51社区 and WOUB ignite passion for media production for theater student Sarah Krause

Sarah Krause鈥檚 51社区 and WOUB story isn鈥檛 typical. She grew up near Cleveland and planned to 鈥済et out of Ohio鈥 for college to study theater. 51社区 was her 鈥渂ack up plan.鈥

鈥淭he best laid plans sometimes don鈥檛 work out,鈥 Krause said. 鈥淏ut I went to 51社区 and just ended up loving it.鈥

Krause started as a theater major with a goal of being a performer. One day when she was in class, she was practicing a line using a British accent, and her professor Keith Newman asked her what part of England she was from.  Krause explained that she was not from England.

鈥淩ight then, Newman marched me down to WOUB Radio, and we spoke with [program director] Bryan Gibson,鈥 Krause said. 鈥淣ewman told Gibson that he thought my voice talents could be used on the radio. I ended up working for WOUB doing public service announcements and reading the weather. I also learned to run the radio board. It was a great job because I could come in to record any time, day or night.鈥

Krause eventually decided to incorporate her voice work and media skills into her degree program. She created a Bachelor鈥檚 of Specialized Studies degree in multimedia performance where she took classes in theater, communication and film.

鈥淚 loved theater, but I wanted to be able to control my own destiny,鈥 Krause said. 鈥淚 just loved the voice work.鈥

After graduating in 2008, Krause did not immediately get into media, voice work or theater.

鈥淚 did what many who pursue acting do. I ended up in retail,鈥 Krause laughed. 鈥淚 actually worked for Follet鈥檚 Bookstore and stayed in Athens for a year after college. I eventually became the bookstore manager on the Lancaster campus and learned great skills on how to build a team and how to develop people. It was right around that time that I started getting into tabletop gaming.鈥

Krause continued to advance in her career in specialty retail management, working at Starbucks for three years and then NowPow, a tech-startup on the south side of Chicago that built resource directories for health care and social needs. But her interest in gaming continued to grow. So in 2018, while still working in specialty retail, Krause started Rem Alternis Productions.

鈥淢y passion for gaming started with Dungeons & Dragons, and eventually learning Shadowrun, which I fell in love with,鈥 Krause said.

Shadowrun is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist.

鈥淭hat caused me to write the script for a live action cyberpunk/fantasy web series set 60 years in the future called Chicago Shadows.鈥

Rem Alternis is Krause鈥檚 creative works company that creates original content, working with artists and writers to breathe life into amazing new worlds. The work includes multimedia projects like Chicago Shadows, live content and tabletop gaming. The company also forms partnerships with other creative individuals and companies to increase their visibility and assist with customer engagement.

鈥淚 think the voice work I did at WOUB, putting on the headset and being able to record myself using the radio board, play it back and do minor editing, ignited the fire for media,鈥 Krause said. 鈥淲e are starting to do work with audio books, audio editing and podcasts, and that love of audio production started with WOUB.鈥

Published
July 28, 2022
Author
Cheri Russo