The Electronic Lover
The Electronic Lover is a serial podcast opera created by San Francisco Bay Area composer Lisa Mezzacappa and Brooklyn-based writer Beth Lisick. The story is set in chatrooms at the dawn of the Internet, in the moment when we first invited computers into the most intimate aspects of our lives. Season 1 follows a tech-curious cabal of young women, isolated and constrained in their own lives, who connect across vast distances to create a thrilling new virtual community.
The opera features six dynamic lead vocalists with backgrounds in jazz, ska, art pop, punk, cabaret and classical music; a mini choir specializing in abstract vocalizations; and a versatile power trio of synth, drums and bass.
- Update frequency
- every 174 days
- Average duration
- 27 minutes
- Episodes
- 9
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2024
Episode 9: Epilogue (2000)
Nearly 20 years have passed, and Frankie’s daughter Marianne pulls our narrator out of semi-retirement to play her some clips from her new podcast, The Electronic Lover. She’s been interviewing her m…
Episode 8: Compusex Compumurder Compuwhat!
Joan convinces Frankie to visit New York for a blind date with one of her psychiatrist friends. Meanwhile, Joan’s incessant gossip in the online forum is starting to make everyone uneasy. Margot call…
Episode 7: The Silent Circle
Joan’s new husband Alex hops into the women’s forum to warn of imposters in the online community, prompting chatroom members to wonder who can be trusted. Alex opens up about his past, and Joan creat…
Episode 6: Cyberwedding
Members of the forum convene to celebrate Joan and Alex’s nuptials at the world’s first online wedding, complete with virtual cake, flowers, champagne, and dancing. Members of the women’s forum bring…
Episode 5: Talkin’ Lady Drops a Bomb
After a rollicking set of exchanges in the Relationships forum, Joan pulls the women into their private room to introduce her new love interest, Alex. Margot confides in Garrison about her concerns o…
Episode 4: Miz Stacks Cuts Loose
Talkin’ Lady (Joan) and Miz Stacks (Susan) cultivate an online flirtation as Go-Go (Margot) tries to protect Miz Stacks’ secret. Margot observes the dynamics unfolding in the chatroom with apprehensi…
Episode 3: T-Rex Steps Out
T-Rex (Theresa) confides in Talkin’ Lady (Joan) about her frustrations as a disabled woman, and confesses a desire to someday meet some of her online friends IRL. Talkin’ Lady encourages her to conqu…
Episode 2: So Long, Quiet Lady
The members of the women-only chatroom begin to open up to each other about their lives, desires, and fears. Frankie is fed up with being undervalued by her male colleagues at work. We learn more abo…
Episode 1: The Pilot Episode
It’s the early 1980s, and people across the US are connecting online for the first time. Internet service providers are setting up bulletin boards and chatrooms (also called forums, or “bands” after …