Radio Plays Go "On Air" in Black Box Theatre

From Feb. 19-21, the winter theatre group hosted three short radio plays in the Black Box Theatre. Radio plays are dramatized acoustic performances that lean heavily on auditory cues and sound effects.

 

“As I started to read radio plays and do a bit of research, they just seemed to hit all of the right notes and to fit all of the possible considerations of doing live-ish theatre during the pandemic. It seemed like a fun way of learning about this once vibrant form that has been making a kind of come-back, both in theatre and as purely audio transmissions,” said Director Cameron Ayres.

 

The three plays chosen included classics The Witch’s Tale: Frankenstein (1931), Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia (1945), and Hercule Poirot: The Case of the Careless Victim (1945). These familiar characters were purposely chosen to connect the largely younger audience with the Golden Age of Radio.

 

The actors were charged with “painting with their words” and a special team of foley artists (those making the integral sound effects for each show) had the important task of helping the audience imagine each scene through sound. They used a number of props to create the necessary sounds, including doors, glasses, shoes, and more.

 

“For a number of things, we had to resort to pre-recorded effects, but trial and error also led us to some great breakthroughs,” notes Ayres. “I was particularly fond of the horse and carriages in the Sherlock Holmes piece, an effect that the foleys really finessed once we learned the basics of how to make it.”

 

Community members joined the actors for each performance under the customary “on the air” signs and were dazzled by how stories could come to life through spoken word and a lot of special sounds.

 

Bravo, actors!

 

To view more photos from the Winter Play, visit the School’s SmugMug account.