Travis Vengroff

Prior to becoming a full-time podcaster, Vengroff was the president of Vengroff Williams Inc, one of the world’s largest collection agencies.[11] He also worked with his father and brother in real estate from 2006-2019, creating and managing affordable apartments in Sarasota, Bradenton, Orlando, and Memphis.[12]

Vengroff started creating fiction podcasts with K.A. Statz in 2015, with the premiere of the audio drama series Liberty: Critical Research, as a means of promoting his graphic novel series.[13] Vengroff found the creation process of audio drama to be faster and more enjoyable than comic books, so he co-founded Fool & Scholar Productions with Statz as a means of expanding their podcast stories. The duo were Parsec Award finalists in 2016 under the category of 'Best New Speculative Fiction Team', and Critical Research was an Audio Verse Award finalist in 2016 for writing and acting.[14][15]

Later the same year, Vengroff and Statz expanded the Liberty podcast to include Tales from the Tower, an anthology horror series set in the same world as the other Liberty stories.[16]

In October 2017, Vengroff & Statz created the found footage horror fiction audio drama The White Vault.[17] The ongoing podcast has been praised for its diverse cast,[18] immersive soundscape, scientific and auditory authenticity, and use of different languages.[19][20] It has been featured on the front pages of iTunes, Pandora Radio, Spotify, and Himalaya, on the top 10 charts for The Arts and Performing Arts on iTunes, on the top 50 chart for ‘All of iTunes’ in the US, and on numerous blogs for ‘Best Podcasts/Audio Dramas of 2017-2020’.[21][22] The White Vault has won many awards for writing, acting, production, music, and sound design, including a 2018 Mark Time Award,[23] a Webby Honoree,[24] and nine Audio Verse Awards.[25] In addition to the core show, Vengroff produced, sound designed, and edited multiple award winning White Vault miniseries including Artifact, Imperial, and The White Vault - A Musical.

In 2018 Vengroff & Statz released Liberty: Vigilance, an actual play audio drama podcast which notably features the voice talents of Wayne June from Darkest Dungeon, Ashly Burch, Sainty & Eric Nelsen, Dave Fennoy, Lani Minella, and George Lowe.[26] Vigilance received praise for its audio design, and was nominated for several Audio Verse Awards in the fields of sound design, production, and acting.

In late 2018, Vengroff also released Dark Dice, a horror actual play podcast, which was featured on various iTunes Top 10 charts for the US, UK, and Canada.[27]

In 2019, Vengroff & Statz premiered VAST Horizon, a science fiction audio drama featuring strong female protagonists and no narration. VAST Horizon has received critical praise for its sound design and acting, winning 4 Audio Verse Awards in its first year.[28]

Within the Audio Drama community, Vengroff is one of the founding members of the Audio Drama Coalition and the Audio Drama Roundtable, an active member of the Audio Drama Hub, and a regular speaker at events around the country on the topics of podcasting, sound design, music, audio drama, and production. He is also the event co-organizer for Podfest’s audio fiction education summit: AudioDramaCon. Vengroff has given lectures and panels at New York Comic Con, The Austin Film Festival, Podfest, Podx, Podtales, Podcon, Emerald City Comic Con, MAGFest, and TEDx: Ideas Worth Sharing.[29]

Vengroff is a regular contributor to the Russian magazine Mir Fantastiki, interviewing artists including Daniel Dos Santos, Gerald Brom, and Dave Dorman and contributing articles on US geek culture.[30]

Vengroff is the writer and creator of the Liberty comic book series.[31] The first volume (which contains the first three chapters) was released at New York Comic Con in October, 2016, and sold over 300 copies that weekend .[32] Two additional volumes have been published in French by Editions KAMITI, while only the first has been self-published in English under John Dossinger Publishing. Vengroff works with an extensive artistic team spread out across six continents to illustrate the books.[33]

Vengroff has also released a number of supplemental Liberty stories and books, including a pen and paper Roleplaying Game system Liberty: AFTER.[34][35] Vengroff also is the writer and creator of the podcast Dark Dice, the story of which has been released as a playable Dungeons and Dragons adventure titled Domain of the Nameless God.[36]

Vengroff started playing accordion at the age of 16, and in 2005 founded the band Random Encounter while attending USF.[37] While a few incarnations of the band have existed over the years, Vengroff was the only member to remain involved until their indefinite hiatus in 2015, performing and writing music in the band under the nickname Careless. Random Encounter was known for its high energy and visual antics at their live shows [38] and Vengroff was known for crowd surfing with his accordion. Vengroff founded a second band, Careless Juja, in 2011.

Vengroff and Random Encounter gained a fanatical following throughout Orlando[39] and the greater east coast nerd-music scene by becoming a part of the world's first video game themed band tour,[40] performing at venues like Nerdapalooza, MAGFest, Gencon, Otakon, SXSW, the Hard Rock Live (Orlando). Known for impromptu performances in Orlando, such as leading a parade of zombies,[41] Random Encounter was also selected as the Best Rock Act in Central Florida for 2013, the Best Indie Act in Central Florida for 2012, and the Best Folk Act in Central Florida for 2011 by the Orlando Weekly.[42] Badassoftheweek.com described Random Encounter’s music as being "like all the awesomeness of playing Castlevania on the NES in Port Royale in the 17th century without all the syphilis or cutlass wounds."[43] During the winter of 2014, Vengroff went on a 10-day tour of Europe with Video Games Live,[44] traveling through the UK, France, Finland, Sweden, and Spain. Later that same year Vengroff and his bandmates composed their first soundtrack, Super Galaxy Squadron.[45] Despite the indefinite hiatus of Random Encounter, Vengroff continued to create and release music as Careless Juja, competing regularly in the Dwelling of Duels internet music competition, and winning five awards from 2011-2019.[46]

Vengroff has continued to release work as Careless Juja, and regularly works as the music director and producer for Fool & Scholar Productions, recently directing a 40-person choir and 30+ medieval instruments for the soundtrack of the Dark Dice podcast.[47]