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In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Lizzie Goldsmith, is an audio producer and creator of the nonfiction audio drama adaptation of When We Were On Fire (based on Addie Zierman’s memoir). Her work explores faith, identity, grief, power, and the emotional reality of growing up in evangelical spaces.

Lizzie is the creator of an audio drama adaptation of the 2013 deconstruction memoir When We Were On Fire by Addie Zierman. The series is a four-part production that blends the intimacy of memoir with the cinematic world-building of scripted drama. Stephanie describes it as “Adventures in Odyssey… if the characters deconstructed,” and Lizzie explains how rare this kind of project still is, especially as a nonfiction adaptation in a drama format.

Together, Stephanie and Lizzie compare notes from eerily parallel upbringings: homeschool culture, Awana verses that never leave your brain, the strange logic of “no sex scenes but yes, horrifying violence,” and the Christian vocabulary that sounds completely unhinged outside church walls (“hedge of protection,” “traveling mercies,” “how’s your walk?”). They talk about how quickly a single phrase can snap your nervous system back into old fear and obedience, even years later.

The conversation also explores the creative hunger that follows deconstruction, especially for people who grew up with limited access to “normal” culture. Lizzie shares how adapting Addie’s memoir during grad school became both a creative obsession and a lifeline, complete with a massive cast, original music, and years of delays due to audio rights before it was finally able to be released widely as a podcast.

🎧 Go listen to When We Were On Fire now.

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Pre-roll music is composed by Joanna Whaley

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Music composed by Joanna Whaley

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INTRO AND OUTRO MUSIC
Scott Buckley "Omega"
COMMERCIAL MUSIC
Composed by Joanna Whaley