“If you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.” – Muhammad Ali

Can a friendship be the most central relationship in our lives? That is the question at the heart of first-time MacDowell fellow Aaron Edwards’ new podcast as he explores the intricacies of this most fundamental of relationships and the novel ways friendships of our time are tested.

While in residence, Edwards is editing the pilot and crafting the narrative arc for a new podcast. On Friday, April 7, he will share audio excerpts and lay out his vision for the program at Monadnock Center for History and Culture, 19 Grove St. in Peterborough, before answering questions from the audience. Doors open for this free program at 7 p.m. and Edwards will kick things off at 7:30 p.m.

Having studied journalism and theater at Ithaca College, Edwards moved from Brooklyn to New York’s Hudson Valley as the pandemic was heating up and found himself wanting to frame stories about personal attachments and the many ways good friends navigate the shifting sands of life experiences.

“I wanted to sit down and listen to people who have these very deep, centered friendships,” said Edwards, who works as a freelance journalist and podcast story editor. “There were some good one-off episodes, books and feature articles about friendship, but I didn’t find any shows actually dedicated to the narratives of specific friendships, so I decided to make the thing that doesn’t exist just yet. I needed the show to exist.”

To Edwards, friendships are as important as romantic relationships.

“There’s nothing wrong or shameful about feeling that a friendship is the most meaningful source of love in your life,” said Edwards. “I want people to come to see that as a valid feeling.”

The podcast’s format presents two friends talking about their ties with light-handed guidance from the show host, Edwards. Various friend pairings will take center stage in different episodes, from longtime women friends speculating about changes tied to having a first child to old-timers coming to terms with mortality as their contemporaries come to the ends of their lives.

Finding such stories has been the most-challenging aspect of the work yet also proves exciting, said Edwards, who reads news sources and even scours Craigslist looking for leads.

The series pilot episode will be deconstructed for MacDowell Downtown, an inward-looking story of Edwards and his close friend, as revealed through recorded conversation, digital voice memos, scripted narration and soundscapes.

“In so many ways, our friendships mirror the courtship and intimacy of romantic partnerships, but we don’t always talk about them with the same heft and importance,” said Edwards.

He adds that as evidenced by books like “Big Friendship” by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, and projects like Julie Beck’s “The Friendship Files” in The Atlantic, friendships take on narrative structures of their own, complete with “tender beginnings, peaks and valleys, and sometimes explosive endings.”

Jonathan Gourlay is senior manager, external communications at MacDowell in Peterborough.

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