Some Middlebury College radio drama club members have graduated and started their own audio drama project. The inaugural production is a version of QP's "The Man Who Stole a Planet," using the uncut script (so there's material not heard in the original broadcast). Here's a link:
Meanwhile, in Australia, there's a monthly performance of vintage radio plays at Leura House, built in the 1880s. Among other things, they've done "Be a Good Dog, Darling" and an episode of Whitehall 1212. Here's a poster of their next show:
Plays of yester-year to open near Blacktown BY NICK SOON 14/08/2009 11:57:00 AM TWO radio plays that will transport you back to between 1919 and 1945 will be staged in Leura at the end of this month.
They are an adventure story called Whence Came You and a detective story, Boston Blackie's story: The TV Poisoning.
Blue Mountains Radio Players is staging the two plays at Leura House, 7 Britain Street from 2.30pm on Sunday August 30.
The first play is a Wyllis Cooper's tale of Egypt, about excavations, sarcophagus, mummies, Egyptian gods and a mysterious beautiful woman who lures the hero Austin.
The audience will feel as if there are aromatic spices used in burial rites wafting around when Austin, the archaeologist and Abe the newspaper man appear.
Director Juliette Frederick said the excavation and the unearthing of a 2000 year-old powerful god would make this an eerie, suspenseful story.
Cast members are Austin: David Cox, site manager: Martin Weaver and Jim Mills, newspaper man: Bryan King and mystery woman: Murray Wilson. ...
Admission: $12 per person include two plays and Devonshire tea. For booking call 4784 2035.
I think this is the first time I can remember that anyone has tried to recreate this particular script. The Scots brogues are a wee bit thick so ye may want to consult the script as ye listen.
2. Meanwhile in Australia, the Blue Mountains Radio Players were scheduled to do "The Other Side of the Stars" on September 27.
3. And here's an item about a stage show that's coming up next month in Connecticut:
Friday, November 20 at 8 p.m., Saturday, November 21 at 3 p.m. & 8 p.m., Quick Center for the Arts - Wien Experimental Theatre
Live Radio Dramas presents "Lights Out." Frank Jacoby directs radio's premier horror series created by writer/director Wyllis Cooper. Debuting in 1934, it was one of the first radio shows that used sound effects to stimulate the imagination of radio listeners. [sic] Jacoby directed the very first televised "Lights Out" in 1951. [sic] Tickets are $25.
Two Lights Out plays, Cooper's "Death Robbery" and Oboler's "Sub-Basement," are scheduled to be staged in Connecticut this weekend:
'Lights Out' comes to Quick Center CLASSIC RADIO revived at Quick By Scott Gargan correspondent Updated: 11/18/2009 01:34:09 PM EST
Frank Jacoby doesn't need gore and graphic violence to tell a scary story -- all he requires is his own voice, a microphone and a collection of props to recreate the sinister sounds of monsters and murder.
"It's very simple," said Jacoby, who starred on "Lights Out," radio's premier horror series during the 1930s and '40s. "When you watch a film, you don't need your imagination, because the director shows you everything. With radio, your imagination fills in all these gaps."
Jacoby, a Weston resident, will revive the classic series when he directs a live performance of "Lights Out" at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts this weekend.
The performances will be "very authentic," Jacoby said, with "sets resembling an old radio station." The production will feature an organist and sound effects man, a control room for the director and engineer and live voice actors, including Keir Dullea, best known as the star of "2001: A Space Odyssey"; his wife and Broadway actress, Mia Dillon; and Jacoby's wife, radio and television actress Doris Storm.
The performances, part of Fairfield University's popular Live Radio Dramas series, will feature two classic programs. "Death Robbery," the chilling 1934 premiere of "Lights Out," tells the story of a scientist (originally played by British actor and "Frankenstein" star Boris Karloff) who believes he has discovered how to bring his dead wife back to life. The next program is "Sub-Basement," a creepy tale about a homicidal man and his terrified wife, who find themselves stuck in the sub-basement of a large department store with a huge monster.
Storm, known for her role as television's Con Edison girl, will also voice several commercials from the original broadcast. They include ads for Schick's Injector Razor and Ironized Yeast Tablets, which promised "pep, youth, vigor and sex appeal," Storm said.
Having been on the radio for much of her career as well as hundreds of commercials, Storm said "it feels very comfortable" to be on stage. "(Frank and I) get in front of the mic and we're taking it back 50 or 60 years," said Storm, who founded Jacoby/Storm Productions, a Manhattan-based media company, with her husband in 1965. "It was so much a part of our lives. For us, working in front of a microphone is just as comfortable as reading the evening newspaper."
Storm, Dullea and Dillon will be joined by a cast of veteran actors and musicians, including Chilton Ryan and Sean Hannon, both of Weston; Kate Katcher of Newtown; organist Joseph Utterback; and sound effects specialist Bart Curtis, from Pine City, N.Y.
Jacoby recalled his time on "Lights Out" fondly and relished the various methods used to frighten his audience. A sound of a crushed hand would be simulated by squashing a lemon with a hammer on an anvil; broken fingers and bones by snapping pencils and spareribs; and an eye being gouged out by dropping a raw egg on a plate. An organist, meanwhile, would ad lib melodies to fit the mood of the scene.
"The director doesn't say, 'let's see what the set looks like,' " said Jacoby, 84. "It's up to the directors and actors to say enough to fill in all these empty holes."
However, because of its enduring success, "Lights Out" was adapted to the screen in 1949, when it became an NBC television series. Sound effects were replaced by elaborate sets, an expanded production team and a cast of Hollywood stars, including Grace Kelly, for whom it was her first on-screen role. Jacoby also had the opportunity to direct, an experience he described as "a gas!"
Still, radio will always hold the biggest place in Jacoby's heart. The Fairfield University performance will be the first time he revives "Lights Out" and he's hoping, as he did some 70 years ago, to horrify his audience. "In radio, you would think and feel in your mind what scares you most," Jacoby said. "You are the director."
Live Radio Dramas' "Lights Out" will be performed Friday, 8 p.m. and Saturday, 3 and 8 p.m. at Fairfield University's Quick Center, 1073 N. Benson Road. Tickets $25. Call 203-254-4010 or 877-ARTS-396 or e-mail boxoffice@quickcenter.com.
This isn't a new version of an old QP, but QP was an influence on this episode of Icebox Radio Theatre called "The Thing on the Ice" which recently won an Ogle Award. Here's the Icebox press release:
AWARD TIME!!!
June 22, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Icebox Radio Theater wins International Audio Award"
The Icebox Radio Theater of International Falls has been awarded the Silver Ogle Award for excellence in fantasy or horror audio for it's 2009 production of 'The Thing on the Ice.'
"We're thrilled to be honored again," IBRT artistic director, and writer-director of 'The Thing on the Ice' Jeff Adams said recently. "The level of quality in audio production has gone up so much in the five years since we won a Mark Time, this really feels like an achievement. The bar is definitely getting higher."
The IBRT won a Mark Time Award for science fiction audio in 2005 for 'Snowbank'. The Ogle, awarded each year by the American Society For Science Fiction Audio, is given for the best magical "high" fantasy, sword and sorcery, horror, modern urban fantasy, and other things that don't fall under the criteria of Science Fiction.
'The Thing on the Ice' is an intensely personal story of an ice fisherman who encounters super-natural forces during a vicious storm on Rainy Lake in Northern Minnesota. The play featured sound effects and a brief acting performance by IBRT Sound Effects Director Dave Erwin of Fort Frances, Ontario. Erwin and Adams will travel together to pick up the award at CONvergence, a science fiction and fantasy convention held July 1-4 in Minneapolis.
The play's author wrote about the QP influence in a 02-06-2009 post at http://www.audiodramatalk.com -- here's an excerpt:
Little background, I wrote Thing on the Ice this fall after discovering Quiet Please. Up until then, I was not aware that Wyllis Cooper had done anything more than create Lights Out and hand the reins over to Arch Obler.
Anyway, in doing research into Quiet Please, I read that Cooper's style was much more narrative. He liked having a narrator carry the load, as opposed to dialog between multiple characters. Not that there wasn't dialog, but the principle engine of his plays was narration.
At the same time, I was reading a bio of Orson Welles wherein HIS philosophy of radio was discussed. Orson felt that radio was a literary, more than a dramatic art form. By the time he started the Mercury Theatre, he had already done a ton of radio (including The Shadow) and had a clear idea what he wanted to do. That's why the first Mercury Production, Dracula, differs so much from the well-known movies and plays of the title. Welles' actually produced the book.
Anyway, under all these influences, I thought I'd try my hand.
According to the Daily Freeman-Journal, a theater in Webster City, IA will be performing two of Cooper's "Lights Out" plays this weekend:
Reader’s Theatre to be held Sunday March 10, 2011
The Webster City Community Theatre Reader's Theatre will be reading three radio plays at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Two of the radio plays are classic Lights Out Scripts; "Slurp Goes the Amoeba" a cautionary tale of science (comparable to a radio version of the Blob), and "Reunion After Death" a ghost story romance. The third radio script will be an original adaptation of "Tell Tale Heart" called "Take a Deep Breath."
The reading will be directed by Larry Blankenship.
Bring a snack to share if you like and join the fun.
If you are interested in plays, but don't have the time to commit to rehearsals for a production, or you don't like to memorize lines, or you just like reading plays, this is another alternative.
If you have any questions or suggestions for future Reader's Theatres plays, contact Reader's Theatre director Sue Heerema at 832-6515.
A new version of QP's "Take Me Out to the Graveyard" produced by a "podcast that focuses on the life of professional actors" called "The Inexplicable Dumb Show":
1. According to a November post at http://www.johnnyvillar.com/johnnys-journal , youthful autodidactic Renaissance man Johnny Villar reports that in August 2013 "at the NDNU Theatre Festival, I directed a live old-time radio drama entitled Pavane, written by Wyllis Cooper, taken from the brilliant horror-fantasy series Quiet, Please, my favorite old-time radio series of all time" -- and includes two photos:
"In this episode, we recreate the Lights Out episode “The Locked Room Mystery” by Willis Cooper, an eerie murder-mystery in which an apparently alcoholic murder-mystery writer, struggling to meet a deadline, receives creative advice from a mysterious stranger. But at what cost?
This episode features Tessa Brown as Sam, Dan Derkson as Kerrigan, George Mouggias as Taylor, and Jason McCullough as Stewart. Direction and Sound Effects by Shayne Gryn. Produced by Paul Aflalo.
Recorded live at Mainline Theatre on April 1st 2014.
The original version broadcast October 23rd 1935."
I can't remember if anyone has attempted this particular script before. On the same page, there's yet another version of Robert Sheckley's "Protection" from "X Minus One."
Youthful autodidactic Renaissance man Johnny Villar forgot to mention how modest he is. He has excellent taste though, Pavane would make my top 5 for sure.
Cooper really liked those writer-struggling-to-meet-a-deadline plots (Bring Me to Life, Rain on New Year's Eve).
A very early Cooper radio script is the topic of a typically fine post from Scott Tanner's excellent blog devoted to the early NBC series "Empire Builders":
Tanner quotes generously from the script, entitled "Butte," much of which which takes place in a Montana copper mine. Cooper used a Butte copper mine in the lost QP episode "A Mile High and a Mile Deep."
And there's an interesting twist at the end. Tanner reports that Montana Public Radio members had performed two radio dramas a couple of days before his post: reenactments of "A Mile High and a Mile Deep" and Empire Builders' "Prosperity Baby" (a.k.a. "The Billion Dollar Baby"). Here's a direct link to a page featuring recordings of the two plays:
This was their St. Patrick's Day show. The same folks also recently did a Fibber McGee & Molly Valentine's Day show and an Easter-themed episode of "The Life of Riley." They had previously done QP's "Take Me Out to the Graveyard" for Halloween a couple of years ago.
1. Another QP performance from the actors who produce "The Inexplicable Dumb Show." This time they tackle a comedy, "Below Fifth Avenue," one of the uncirculating episodes. I don't remember anyone attempting this script before. Listen at this link:
Veterans Breakfast Club via Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative
May 20 at 12:30pm · Edited ·
SPECIAL MEMORIAL DAY FEATURE PRESENTATION
Tune into VeteranVoicesofPittsburgh.com on Memorial Day to hear our re-created 1949 radio drama, In the House Where I Was Born.
Through the impressionistic narration of an "unknown soldier" -- a representational everyman -- this radio drama pays homage to the common soldier and all who have died in military service. The show has been described as "a montage of memories—childhood homes, friends, family, war, death—that link the present with the past, the living with the dead, and form the cultural ties that bind communities together." Others have said that the play "conquers time and space with an ease and flair."
The original 30-minute ABC Radio broadcast aired on Memorial Day 1949. It was written and directed by WWI veteran, Wyllis Cooper.
Under the direction of Carnegie-Mellon University's Dennis Schebetta, our production is a sound-stage adaptation that closely follows the original story and sound design.
An added scene updates the story to include the Korean and Vietnam Wars with special reference to Pittsburgh and actual lines from our oral history archive.
This play features the voices of an all-Pittsburgh cast: Dylan Myers (Unknown Soldier), Nancy Bach (Mother), Elias Vila-Kubiak (Boy), Claire Sabatine (Bride), and Ken Bolden (Brother/Father). Special re-creation of the original musical score by Pat Blackburn.
A group called Radio Horror Theatre is staging their version of a QP episode at next month's Amsterdam Fringe Festival (dates: September 4, 5, 8, 9, 2015):
Two scientists, a revolutionary invention and cosmic forces beyond any known to man.
“Northern Lights”, a sly and theatrically silly modern adaptation of Wyllis Cooper’s 1948 absurd science fiction masterpiece, transports the audience back in time to the days when radios transmitted thought directly into the human mind.
Radio Horror Theatre has specialized in radio horror over the years. With a special mix of black comedy and wry visual effects the audience is laughing one minute and shuddering the next. ...
The group has a Facebook page with more info, images, and reviews:
A strange, surreal, somehow disturbing, yet superb show. It transports its audience, not only with delight, from the ridiculous to the sublime, but also to somewhere very much ‘else’ or ‘other’; somewhere anything can, and frequently does happen.
Although there are some funny visual elements in it, the story is told mostly with seemingly simple light effects, suggestive sounds and the human voice. It's like a campfire told to you by someone who knows when to lower the voice...
A troupe is scheduled to perform "The Thing on the Fouble Board" and "The Gothic Tale" (one of the lost episodes) this weekend at the Owen Theatre, 225 Metcalf St, Conroe, Texas 77301:
Join The Crighton Players Vintage Radio Theatre as we present a chilling classic double feature in time for Halloween - tales from the hair-raising series, QUIET, PLEASE!
Don't miss our Vintage Radio performance, as we bring you two spooky stories from a time before television on SUNDAY OCTOBER 25th at 7pm - LIVE in the OWEN THEATRE!
Listeners and fans of the series can now WATCH and enjoy our Players ON STAGE as they perform this classic radio treat with a LIVE cast and homemade sound effects, just like in the Golden Age of Radio. So don't miss this LIVE FREE EVENT!
As always, you can "tune in" at home or anywhere on Lone Star Internet Radio by going to www.irlonestar.com on your computer or mobile device at 7pm!
NOTE: If attending the LIVE performance in the Owen, please arrive promptly by 6:45pm. This is a free show, without tickets. Seating is first come, first served. Due to the nature of broadcast schedules, we will not be able to delay the performance for late arrivals.
Also - be sure to check out http://irlonestar.com/tptcotrh/ for our archived episodes, ranging from Fibber McGee & Molly, Our Miss Brooks, the Shadow and many others!
DON'T FORGET - you can always catch repeats of our radio dramas and comedies EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT at 7pm on irlonestar.com!
Please help us spread the word by sharing this event on Facebook!
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Comments on New version of old QP
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Some Middlebury College radio drama club members have graduated and started their own audio drama project. The inaugural production is a version of QP's "The Man Who Stole a Planet," using the uncut script (so there's material not heard in the original broadcast). Here's a link:
www.escapepodx.com/2009/08/...he-man-who-stole-a-planet/
Or you can download the mp3 file directly from this link:
www.escapepodx.com/audio/ep.../themanwhostoleaplanet.mp3
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Meanwhile, in Australia, there's a monthly performance of vintage radio plays at Leura House, built in the 1880s. Among other things, they've done "Be a Good Dog, Darling" and an episode of Whitehall 1212. Here's a poster of their next show:
www.blacktownsun.com.au/mul...dia/images/full/560622.jpg
And part of an article about it:
Plays of yester-year to open near Blacktown
BY NICK SOON
14/08/2009 11:57:00 AM
TWO radio plays that will transport you back to between 1919 and 1945 will be staged in Leura at the end of this month.
They are an adventure story called Whence Came You and a detective story, Boston Blackie's story: The TV Poisoning.
Blue Mountains Radio Players is staging the two plays at Leura House, 7 Britain Street from 2.30pm on Sunday August 30.
The first play is a Wyllis Cooper's tale of Egypt, about excavations, sarcophagus, mummies, Egyptian gods and a mysterious beautiful woman who lures the hero Austin.
The audience will feel as if there are aromatic spices used in burial rites wafting around when Austin, the archaeologist and Abe the newspaper man appear.
Director Juliette Frederick said the excavation and the unearthing of a 2000 year-old powerful god would make this an eerie, suspenseful story.
Cast members are Austin: David Cox, site manager: Martin Weaver and Jim Mills, newspaper man: Bryan King and mystery woman: Murray Wilson. ...
Admission: $12 per person include two plays and Devonshire tea. For booking call 4784 2035.
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1. The Middlebury Radio drama club posted their version of the lost QP episode "Meeting at Ticonderoga" on their blog:
mrtots.com/2009/10/quiet-pl...ase-meeting-at-ticonderoga
Or you can download a 23 MB file of it directly from this link:
mrtots.com/content/Season5/...0/MeetingatTiconderoga.mp3
I think this is the first time I can remember that anyone has tried to recreate this particular script. The Scots brogues are a wee bit thick so ye may want to consult the script as ye listen.
2. Meanwhile in Australia, the Blue Mountains Radio Players were scheduled to do "The Other Side of the Stars" on September 27.
3. And here's an item about a stage show that's coming up next month in Connecticut:
Live Radio Dramas presents "Lights Out." Frank Jacoby directs radio's premier horror series created by writer/director Wyllis Cooper. Debuting in 1934, it was one of the first radio shows that used sound effects to stimulate the imagination of radio listeners. [sic] Jacoby directed the very first televised "Lights Out" in 1951. [sic] Tickets are $25.
Source: http://www.fairfield.edu/arts/arts_news.html?id=2490
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Two Lights Out plays, Cooper's "Death Robbery" and Oboler's "Sub-Basement," are scheduled to be staged in Connecticut this weekend:
'Lights Out' comes to Quick Center
CLASSIC RADIO revived at Quick
By Scott Gargan
correspondent
Updated: 11/18/2009 01:34:09 PM EST
Frank Jacoby doesn't need gore and graphic violence to tell a scary story -- all he requires is his own voice, a microphone and a collection of props to recreate the sinister sounds of monsters and murder.
"It's very simple," said Jacoby, who starred on "Lights Out," radio's premier horror series during the 1930s and '40s. "When you watch a film, you don't need your imagination, because the director shows you everything. With radio, your imagination fills in all these gaps."
Jacoby, a Weston resident, will revive the classic series when he directs a live performance of "Lights Out" at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts this weekend.
The performances will be "very authentic," Jacoby said, with "sets resembling an old radio station." The production will feature an organist and sound effects man, a control room for the director and engineer and live voice actors, including Keir Dullea, best known as the star of "2001: A Space Odyssey"; his wife and Broadway actress, Mia Dillon; and Jacoby's wife, radio and television actress Doris Storm.
The performances, part of Fairfield University's popular Live Radio Dramas series, will feature two classic programs. "Death Robbery," the chilling 1934 premiere of "Lights Out," tells the story of a scientist (originally played by British actor and "Frankenstein" star Boris Karloff) who believes he has discovered how to bring his dead wife back to life. The next program is "Sub-Basement," a creepy tale about a homicidal man and his terrified wife, who find themselves stuck in the sub-basement of a large department store with a huge monster.
Storm, known for her role as television's Con Edison girl, will also voice several commercials from the original broadcast. They include ads for Schick's Injector Razor and Ironized Yeast Tablets, which promised "pep, youth, vigor and sex appeal," Storm said.
Having been on the radio for much of her career as well as hundreds of commercials, Storm said "it feels very comfortable" to be on stage. "(Frank and I) get in front of the mic and we're taking it back 50 or 60 years," said Storm, who founded Jacoby/Storm Productions, a Manhattan-based media company, with her husband in 1965. "It was so much a part of our lives. For us, working in front of a microphone is just as comfortable as reading the evening newspaper."
Storm, Dullea and Dillon will be joined by a cast of veteran actors and musicians, including Chilton Ryan and Sean Hannon, both of Weston; Kate Katcher of Newtown; organist Joseph Utterback; and sound effects specialist Bart Curtis, from Pine City, N.Y.
Jacoby recalled his time on "Lights Out" fondly and relished the various methods used to frighten his audience. A sound of a crushed hand would be simulated by squashing a lemon with a hammer on an anvil; broken fingers and bones by snapping pencils and spareribs; and an eye being gouged out by dropping a raw egg on a plate. An organist, meanwhile, would ad lib melodies to fit the mood of the scene.
"The director doesn't say, 'let's see what the set looks like,' " said Jacoby, 84. "It's up to the directors and actors to say enough to fill in all these empty holes."
However, because of its enduring success, "Lights Out" was adapted to the screen in 1949, when it became an NBC television series. Sound effects were replaced by elaborate sets, an expanded production team and a cast of Hollywood stars, including Grace Kelly, for whom it was her first on-screen role. Jacoby also had the opportunity to direct, an experience he described as "a gas!"
Still, radio will always hold the biggest place in Jacoby's heart. The Fairfield University performance will be the first time he revives "Lights Out" and he's hoping, as he did some 70 years ago, to horrify his audience.
"In radio, you would think and feel in your mind what scares you most," Jacoby said. "You are the director."
Live Radio Dramas' "Lights Out" will be performed Friday, 8 p.m. and Saturday, 3 and 8 p.m. at Fairfield University's Quick Center, 1073 N. Benson Road. Tickets $25. Call 203-254-4010 or 877-ARTS-396 or e-mail boxoffice@quickcenter.com.
Source: http://www.connpost.com/entertainment/ci_13808931
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This isn't a new version of an old QP, but QP was an influence on this episode of Icebox Radio Theatre called "The Thing on the Ice" which recently won an Ogle Award. Here's the Icebox press release:
AWARD TIME!!!
June 22, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Icebox Radio Theater wins International Audio Award"
The Icebox Radio Theater of International Falls has been awarded the Silver Ogle Award for excellence in fantasy or horror audio for it's 2009 production of 'The Thing on the Ice.'
"We're thrilled to be honored again," IBRT artistic director, and writer-director of 'The Thing on the Ice' Jeff Adams said recently. "The level of quality in audio production has gone up so much in the five years since we won a Mark Time, this really feels like an achievement. The bar is definitely getting higher."
The IBRT won a Mark Time Award for science fiction audio in 2005 for 'Snowbank'. The Ogle, awarded each year by the American Society For Science Fiction Audio, is given for the best magical "high" fantasy, sword and sorcery, horror, modern urban fantasy, and other things that don't fall under the criteria of Science Fiction.
'The Thing on the Ice' is an intensely personal story of an ice fisherman who encounters super-natural forces during a vicious storm on Rainy Lake in Northern Minnesota. The play featured sound effects and a brief acting performance by IBRT Sound Effects Director Dave Erwin of Fort Frances, Ontario. Erwin and Adams will travel together to pick up the award at CONvergence, a science fiction and fantasy convention held July 1-4 in Minneapolis.
Listen Here
http://iceboxradio.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=429243
The play's author wrote about the QP influence in a 02-06-2009 post at http://www.audiodramatalk.com -- here's an excerpt:
Anyway, in doing research into Quiet Please, I read that Cooper's style was much more narrative. He liked having a narrator carry the load, as opposed to dialog between multiple characters. Not that there wasn't dialog, but the principle engine of his plays was narration.
At the same time, I was reading a bio of Orson Welles wherein HIS philosophy of radio was discussed. Orson felt that radio was a literary, more than a dramatic art form. By the time he started the Mercury Theatre, he had already done a ton of radio (including The Shadow) and had a clear idea what he wanted to do. That's why the first Mercury Production, Dracula, differs so much from the well-known movies and plays of the title. Welles' actually produced the book.
Anyway, under all these influences, I thought I'd try my hand.
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According to the Daily Freeman-Journal, a theater in Webster City, IA will be performing two of Cooper's "Lights Out" plays this weekend:
March 10, 2011
The Webster City Community Theatre Reader's Theatre will be reading three radio plays at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Two of the radio plays are classic Lights Out Scripts; "Slurp Goes the Amoeba" a cautionary tale of science (comparable to a radio version of the Blob), and "Reunion After Death" a ghost story romance. The third radio script will be an original adaptation of "Tell Tale Heart" called "Take a Deep Breath."
The reading will be directed by Larry Blankenship.
Bring a snack to share if you like and join the fun.
If you are interested in plays, but don't have the time to commit to rehearsals for a production, or you don't like to memorize lines, or you just like reading plays, this is another alternative.
If you have any questions or suggestions for future Reader's Theatres plays, contact Reader's Theatre director Sue Heerema at 832-6515.
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A new version of QP's "Take Me Out to the Graveyard" produced by a "podcast that focuses on the life of professional actors" called "The Inexplicable Dumb Show":
www.inexplicabledumbshow.co...alloween-spooktacular-2013
The same folks also took a whack at Robert Sheckley's "Protection" from "X Minus One":
www.inexplicabledumbshow.co...s-summer-rep-2-x-minus-one
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1. According to a November post at http://www.johnnyvillar.com/johnnys-journal , youthful autodidactic Renaissance man Johnny Villar reports that in August 2013 "at the NDNU Theatre Festival, I directed a live old-time radio drama entitled Pavane, written by Wyllis Cooper, taken from the brilliant horror-fantasy series Quiet, Please, my favorite old-time radio series of all time" -- and includes two photos:
www.johnnyvillar.com/storag...CACHEVERSION=1384845012747
www.johnnyvillar.com/storag...CACHEVERSION=1384843557938
2. An April 13, 2014 post at nomoreradio.com includes a recorded performance of one of Cooper's "Lights Out" scripts:
http://www.nomoreradio.com/show/oldtimeradio
"In this episode, we recreate the Lights Out episode “The Locked Room Mystery” by Willis Cooper, an eerie murder-mystery in which an apparently alcoholic murder-mystery writer, struggling to meet a deadline, receives creative advice from a mysterious stranger. But at what cost?
This episode features Tessa Brown as Sam, Dan Derkson as Kerrigan, George Mouggias as Taylor, and Jason McCullough as Stewart. Direction and Sound Effects by Shayne Gryn. Produced by Paul Aflalo.
Recorded live at Mainline Theatre on April 1st 2014.
The original version broadcast October 23rd 1935."
I can't remember if anyone has attempted this particular script before. On the same page, there's yet another version of Robert Sheckley's "Protection" from "X Minus One."
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A group in Pittsburgh, PA is planning to do a version of QP's "In the House Where I Was Born" in time for, appropriately enough, Memorial Day:
veteranvoicesofpittsburgh.c...the-house-where-i-was-born
Under "Resources" on that page, you can find a draft of their script, which is updated a bit to include mention of wars since the original broadcast.
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A very early Cooper radio script is the topic of a typically fine post from Scott Tanner's excellent blog devoted to the early NBC series "Empire Builders":
empire-builders-radio.blogs.../2015/02/300210-butte.html
Tanner quotes generously from the script, entitled "Butte," much of which which takes place in a Montana copper mine. Cooper used a Butte copper mine in the lost QP episode "A Mile High and a Mile Deep."
And there's an interesting twist at the end. Tanner reports that Montana Public Radio members had performed two radio dramas a couple of days before his post: reenactments of "A Mile High and a Mile Deep" and Empire Builders' "Prosperity Baby" (a.k.a. "The Billion Dollar Baby"). Here's a direct link to a page featuring recordings of the two plays:
mtpr.org/post/mtpr-radio-th...irs-classic-big-sky-dramas
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A new version of QP's "Dark Rosaleen" produced by a "podcast that focuses on the life of professional actors" called "The Inexplicable Dumb Show":
www.inexplicabledumbshow.co...aleen-st-patricks-day-2015
This was their St. Patrick's Day show. The same folks also recently did a Fibber McGee & Molly Valentine's Day show and an Easter-themed episode of "The Life of Riley." They had previously done QP's "Take Me Out to the Graveyard" for Halloween a couple of years ago.
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1. Another QP performance from the actors who produce "The Inexplicable Dumb Show." This time they tackle a comedy, "Below Fifth Avenue," one of the uncirculating episodes. I don't remember anyone attempting this script before. Listen at this link:
www.inexplicabledumbshow.co...-please-below-fifth-avenue
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2. Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh posted their version of QP's "In the House Where I Was Born." Listen at this link:
soundcloud.com/veteran-voi...l-cut-beta7-compr2to1-lkfs
From their Facebook page:
Veterans Breakfast Club via Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative
May 20 at 12:30pm · Edited ·
SPECIAL MEMORIAL DAY FEATURE PRESENTATION
Tune into VeteranVoicesofPittsburgh.com on Memorial Day to hear our re-created 1949 radio drama, In the House Where I Was Born.
Through the impressionistic narration of an "unknown soldier" -- a representational everyman -- this radio drama pays homage to the common soldier and all who have died in military service. The show has been described as "a montage of memories—childhood homes, friends, family, war, death—that link the present with the past, the living with the dead, and form the cultural ties that bind communities together." Others have said that the play "conquers time and space with an ease and flair."
The original 30-minute ABC Radio broadcast aired on Memorial Day 1949. It was written and directed by WWI veteran, Wyllis Cooper.
Under the direction of Carnegie-Mellon University's Dennis Schebetta, our production is a sound-stage adaptation that closely follows the original story and sound design.
An added scene updates the story to include the Korean and Vietnam Wars with special reference to Pittsburgh and actual lines from our oral history archive.
This play features the voices of an all-Pittsburgh cast: Dylan Myers (Unknown Soldier), Nancy Bach (Mother), Elias Vila-Kubiak (Boy), Claire Sabatine (Bride), and Ken Bolden (Brother/Father). Special re-creation of the original musical score by Pat Blackburn.
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A group called Radio Horror Theatre is staging their version of a QP episode at next month's Amsterdam Fringe Festival (dates: September 4, 5, 8, 9, 2015):
amsterdamfringefestival.nl/.../programma/northern-lights
From the festival site:
“Northern Lights”, a sly and theatrically silly modern adaptation of Wyllis Cooper’s 1948 absurd science fiction masterpiece, transports the audience back in time to the days when radios transmitted thought directly into the human mind.
Radio Horror Theatre has specialized in radio horror over the years. With a special mix of black comedy and wry visual effects the audience is laughing one minute and shuddering the next. ...
The group has a Facebook page with more info, images, and reviews:
https://www.facebook.com/Radio.Horror.Theater
Review excerpts:
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A troupe is scheduled to perform "The Thing on the Fouble Board" and "The Gothic Tale" (one of the lost episodes) this weekend at the Owen Theatre, 225 Metcalf St, Conroe, Texas 77301:
Source: https://www.facebook.com/events/708909759210651
Join The Crighton Players Vintage Radio Theatre as we present a chilling classic double feature in time for Halloween - tales from the hair-raising series, QUIET, PLEASE!
Don't miss our Vintage Radio performance, as we bring you two spooky stories from a time before television on SUNDAY OCTOBER 25th at 7pm - LIVE in the OWEN THEATRE!
Listeners and fans of the series can now WATCH and enjoy our Players ON STAGE as they perform this classic radio treat with a LIVE cast and homemade sound effects, just like in the Golden Age of Radio. So don't miss this LIVE FREE EVENT!
As always, you can "tune in" at home or anywhere on Lone Star Internet Radio by going to www.irlonestar.com on your computer or mobile device at 7pm!
NOTE: If attending the LIVE performance in the Owen, please arrive promptly by 6:45pm. This is a free show, without tickets. Seating is first come, first served. Due to the nature of broadcast schedules, we will not be able to delay the performance for late arrivals.
Also - be sure to check out http://irlonestar.com/tptcotrh/ for our archived episodes, ranging from Fibber McGee & Molly, Our Miss Brooks, the Shadow and many others!
DON'T FORGET - you can always catch repeats of our radio dramas and comedies EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT at 7pm on irlonestar.com!
Please help us spread the word by sharing this event on Facebook!