Our Team
Ben Clemmer (Host, Founder, Writer, Producer, Editor) – For the better part of the last decade, Ben Clemmer has been working as an audio professional in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A lifelong love of comic books, movies, music, and character voices led Ben to the intersection of communication and audio. There you’ll find broadcasting, podcasts, and storytelling in a variety of mediums. Ben co-founded Storytelling Breakdown in 2019, recording conversations between him and Caleb Meyer that were going to happen regardless. Being a fan of Batman, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Firefly, and other entire universes found in books, movies, and games has made this passion project easy to fuel.
Caleb Meyer (Host, Founder, Writer, Producer) – A lifelong cinephile and stage actor, Caleb Meyer has always loved storytelling. In whatever medium it can be found; anime, movies, TV, musicals, books Caleb is always there devouring what he can. The discussion of stories and the different ways they are told has always been something Caleb has been interested in and he co-founded Storytelling Breakdown in 2019, turning a long conversation during a visit to Ben’s place into a podcast. Being a fan of Battlestar Galactica, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Lord of the Rings, Dragon Age, and other entire universes found in books, movies, and games has made this passion project a joy to be a part of.
Stephen Stachofsky (Host, Writer, Producer) – Stephen Stachofsky is a transplant to the realm of audio production from the austere world of classical music. Stephen grew up in a very musical household and continued on to study Vocal Performance and Music Education at both the University of Toledo and Purdue Fort Wayne. Stephen’s childhood was filled with the classic stories of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S Lewis, and the tales of Robin Hood and King Arthur. Of course in the background was always opera and John Williams. Growing up performing gave Stephen a voracious appetite for a good story in any medium. Spending his time finding a good story to tell or be told makes working on Storytelling Breakdown as easy and necessary as breathing.
Larissa Whitaker (Host, Writer, Producer) – From a young age, Larissa has enjoyed the arts. She believes art–whether it’s a drawing, a song, a movie, or a story told over dinner–has the power to change lives. To transform. To share. To feel. To be. Larissa’s life has been shaped by stories and she is fascinated by (1) what media draws her attention and (2) why it draws her attention. In her personal media history lives the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ted Lasso, late-night talk shows, Scooby Doo, the failed Muppets sitcom, and more. She loves the space Storytelling Breakdown provides to see our own stories lived through the lens of stories on screen.
John Dawkins (CEO of Wayneshout Productions) – Growing up in the era of fanboy nostalgia, John was raised on a steady diet of Star Wars, Muppets, Weird Al Yankovic, and Monty Python. He has always been a voracious reader of science fiction and mystery novels, and spent his formative years quoting movies and doing passable impressions (depending on who you ask) of Kermit the Frog, John Cleese, and Wallace Shawn. Possessing too much of an imagination to push buttons all day, John willingly turned his back on a career in manufacturing to pursue a degree in Music Technology from the University of Saint Francis. Graduating highest honors in 2018, John now edits Folktales with Julia Meek for WBOI, and heads the podcast production company, Wayneshout Productions. Under this moniker, he produces multiple podcasts, including Kinetic Conversations with the Fort Wayne Ballet, and his personal podcast, Oh Shoot… REBOOT! Wayneshout.com hosts other wonderful Fort Wayne podcasts, including Storytelling Breakdown. John’s blog, The Nostalgia Saturation, explores the strangeness of pop culture consumerism.
Storytelling Breakdown 