Don’t touch that dial! You’re in for a treat as the Salem Players proudly presents Radio Plays, Directed by Anita Spicer-Lane. Want an old-fashioned evening of nostalgia? Back to a simpler time when all the drama was heard gathered around the fireplace in the parlor whistling out of the radio? Salem Players has you covered. Featuring a selection of three vintage radio dramas— The Lone Ranger– “The Tell-Tale Bullet” from September 30, 1953, Lights Out– “Bon Voyage” from June 22, 1938, and Father Knows Best– “Father’s Day Picnic” from June 14, 1951— The Salem Players brings together a talented cast of performers for a unique theatrical experience.
Director Anita Spicer-Lane chose this unique endeavor with caution in mind. During these uncertain, Covid-driven times, all too often we find months and months of hard work being put into rehearsals only to have a show have to be canceled due to new variants, outbreaks, or capacity restrictions. With a series of three audio dramas, in the unlikely event of a cancellation, Salem Players would have still been able to present their hard work to the audience (just as the original audio dramas were received by millions of people listening from home on their own radios.) Thankfully this wasn’t the case and audiences* are able to attend in person and watch the ‘audio drama’ just like you were an ‘invited audience’ to a live, radio studio recording! This includes delightful old-timey set pieces, fabricated by John Johnston, like big broadcast-style microphones that say ‘SPBC’ on them (just like CBS or NBC? Only… ‘Salem Players Broadcast Company.’)
Bringing the ‘radio vibe’ to even more authentic level, this production features a live pianist on stage! Sterling Grey is responsible for all the theme bits of The Lone Ranger and several other ‘dramatic’ audio moments that get plinked out during the program. There’s even live foley on-stage! Trinity Blevins, Nick Mason, Jane Nitsch, and Sara Toscano all take turns sitting at the ‘foley table’ (Foley- the unique live technique of recreating everyday sounds for film, television, radio, and theatre.) and creating some of the shows sound effects. These are heard most prominently in The Lone Ranger, when the horses get to galloping, and Blevins, Nitsch, and Toscano get to clickety-clacking coconut shells together, and whenever gunshots (also in The Lone Ranger) go off. There’s a massive wooden slap-stick that gets whacked to create that sound. While quite a few of the sounds are cued from the booth (designed by Tim VanSant by way of Amanda Yerkey who is operating the booth…and she does a pretty good job with the tinned sound effects, so we won’t give ‘em too much grief for not producing ocean rolls, audience laughter, and other noises from the on-stage foley) having the addition of live sound on stage is a real treat.
The Lone Ranger– “The Tell-Tale Bullet” features the largest on-stage cast with Tim Toscano as the announcer, Nick Mason as The Lone Ranger, Tom Dewberry as both Tonto and Doc, Sue O’Conner as Mary Doyle the doctor’s wife, Elinor Bower as David Doyle the doctor’s son, Guy Davis as Cash, Fran Huber as Scar, and Maggie Franks as Dirk. We get simple costume accents— like the mask on the lone ranger and the feather on Tonto— to help identify characters as they all stand at the microphones reading from their radio-drama scripts, just like a real, live radio taping. Elinor Bower is a standout in this section of the production, because even though she’s a young lady of just 13 years, she masterfully delivers the voice and style of a late teenaged or early 20-something young man in “The Tell-Tale Bullet”, giving the audience a real shock when she reads. Her costume, which remains the same for both of the segments she’s in, is period appropriate. Keep an eye on her as well as Nick Mason during the other two radio programs. All the non-speaking actors (as they take turns for the different shows) sit on stage, just like you would in a real radio drama taping, and Bower and Mason start playing cards to keep themselves amused, just like actors of yesteryore might do!
Lights Out– “Bon Voyage” is a dark and mysterious tale that features one of the coolest ‘on-stage’ sound effects of ‘oceanic wind whistling and howling.’ (It’s someone blowing creepy whistle-air across a coconut shell and the effect is quite chilling!) With Fran Huber as Julia, Sara Toscano as Emma, Jane Nitsch as Cab Driver, and Tim Toscano as Captain/Sailor, this audio drama is an eerie one. Jane Nitsch has a perfect accent for her Cab Driver character, while Huber and Toscano do a great deal of hen-pecking back and forth both at one another and at the other two characters in the set. Both have bellowing voices when it comes to be shrieking.
Father Knows Best– “Father’s Day Picnic” is lighthearted, humorous, and charming with just as many actors as The Lone Ranger. Featuring Tom Dewberry as the downtrodden, browbeat father character Jim, Emily Lambert as Margaret his wife and mother of his three children, Elinore Bower, Maggie Franks, and Mary Metcalf as the three children Betty, Bud, and Kathy respectively, Guy Davis as Sam/Announcer, Tim Toscano as Hector, and Fran Huber as the Radio Announcer, this one has all sorts of laughable moments. The kids are too precious in this one. Elinore Bower as the boisterous Betty, Maggie Franks as the bemoaning Bud, and Mary Metcalf as the adorably naïve and innocent Kathy really give support, by way of grief, to the father character Jim. It’s Emily Lambert’s Margaret that steals the show in this one. Her costume is sublime— she looks identical to a 1950’s housewife, from the lace modesty panel on her polka dot dress right down to the red shoes that match her 50’s delicate “day-life/housewife” low glamour makeup. Her facial expressions are textbook Leave it To Beaver and her cadence and patois is everything you’d expect to hear from a 1950’s radio starlet. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear Salem Players borrowed a time machine and pulled Lamber straight out of 1951! Keep an eye on her during the first two radio dramas as well, she’s reading a magazine, writing in her diary, and having thoughtful background interactions that really put her into ‘actress of a radio show’ character.
It’s fun for everyone, and if you close your eyes for a moment or two during the performance you just might find yourself transported back to these bygone times. What a delightful way to welcome audiences back to Salem Players with Radio Plays. There are only five performances of this run so be sure to book your tickets soon!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours with two, ten-minute intermissions.
Radio Plays: The Lone Ranger, Lights Out, Father Knows Best plays through November 20, 2021 at The Salem Players— Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church at 905 Frederick Road in Catonsville, MD. For tickets call (410) 747-0720 or purchase them online.
*All audience members ages 12 and up must show proof of vaccination in order to attend the performance. All members of the audience, ages two and up, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a face mask that covers the nose and mouth at all times while inside the building.
