2000X from NPR®
Futuristic storytelling — from Bradbury and Vonnegut to Twain and Kipling — coming to a radio near you.

In April 2000, NPR, in partnership with the Hollywood Theater of the Ear, launches the most ambitious radio drama since Star Wars. 2000X unites the best futuristic fiction with superb acting talents and top-notch sound production. These audio plays celebrate the new millennium, looking to the future for adventure, satire, suspense, philosophy, comedy, and, of course, romance.

The 26 programs that make up 2000X cast an ear to the social, political, and technological possibilities of the next millennium. All plays take place totally or substantially in a time after 2000 AD. These ambitious new dramas are based on works by such science-fiction stalwarts as H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury, and Ursula K. Le Guin, along with the fiction of mainstream luminaries such as Mark Twain, Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, Kurt Vonnegut, and E. M. Forster. The award winning author and broadcast personality Harlan Ellison is the series host. Productions feature a who's who among actors: Robin Williams, Richard Dreyfuss, Samantha Eggar, Charles Durning, and some 100 others. The 2000X production team includes a Grammy winner and a Peabody Award winner.

2000X is a theatrical hypothesis of the endless landscapes and possibilities that may govern the distant future. Many worlds and emotions are imagined and acted out on radio for 2000X: a giant computer controlling human civilization breaks down; women's biological liberation creates an underground movement of "cyclists"; robotic watch-birds prevent murders, and a civilization of intelligent forest animals sends an expedition to the artifacts of the extinct human race.

2000X is supported by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

NOTE: Listeners are encouraged to check with local NPR member stations to find exact program schedules in their area.

Visit the 2000X Web site.

About the Host

Harlan Ellison Photo courtesy of Christer Akerberg

Harlan Ellison's career as a short story writer, essayist, and spoken word performer has spanned nearly 50 years. Mr. Ellison was characterized by The New York Times Book Review as having "the spellbinding quality of a great nonstop talker, with a cultural warehouse for a mind." Ellison's short fiction includes Deathbird Stories, Strange Wine, and Approaching Oblivion. Ellison has written for film and television, including fantasies for The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.

About the Producer

Yuri Rasovsky Photo courtesy of Ed Krieger

Yuri Rasovsky, head of the Hollywood Theater of the Ear, has worked professionally in theater and broadcasting as actor, writer, director, and producer for nearly 30 years. Since he founded the National Radio Theater in 1972, he has created hundreds of radio productions heard on commercial and public radio outlets around the world. He also works as a columnist, reviewer, cartoonist, and humorist. Rasovsky has won numerous honors for his work, including two George Foster Peabody awards and three CPB awards.