Radio dramas
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Directing
Forum Discription: For questions about handling shows, actors, crew, board members, children ...or do we repeat ourselves?
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2045
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 3:38pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Radio dramas
Posted By: red diva
Subject: Radio dramas
Date Posted: 9/27/06 at 4:01pm
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For about the last 10 years, on and off, we have worked with our local radio station to produce a Christmas radio play. We have done "Miracle on 34th St.", "A Christmas Carol", "A Wonderful Life", and several others, some more than once. We have been able to utilize a lot of people that havent, for whatever reason, been able to participate in shows at the theatre, but feel that they can devote one or two evenings to rehearsal time and an evening for the live broadcast. We have also worked (in conjunction with another community theatre) with the radio station of a nearby state university to produce several Christmas variety shows, complete with live big band music, and two productions of "The War of the Worlds" at Halloween, once on the 60th anniversary of Wells' historic broadcast. Some of these, the variety shows and "The War of the Worlds", were also done before a live audience. We have had GREAT fun with these, and have had a terrific response. We are now in the process of setting up the arrangements to do one this Christmas, with hopefully others to be done at Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, and one or two other holidays. It's a wonderful varient on the stage performances that we usually do. I was wondering if anyone else on this board has ventured into radio drama and is willing to share experiences, gaffs, advice, public domain scripts that might be appropriate, etc. If you haven't done it, I highly recommend it.....and you can charge admission if you do it in front of a live audience! It really takes you back to the nostalgia of those old "radio days"! I ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Replies:
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 9/27/06 at 4:05pm
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Oops....sorry about the placement of this topic. I thought I was putting it in the "other topics" forum! Please forgive and respond to it anyway! ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 9/27/06 at 5:04pm
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We wanted to present "The Hitchhiker" and "Sorry, Wrong Number" on
stage and broadcast at the same time a number of years ago. Our
local radio station was very enthusastic about the broadcast, but the
theater company could never get a hold of the people who held the
broadcast rights to those shows. How did your company handle
this. We would love to have that opportunity in this town.
------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 9/28/06 at 8:12am
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I really hope you get to do this, castMe - a great deal of fun, and very satisfying. And a crowd pleaser! My husband is a great fan of old radio shows, and was able to research and download public domain scripts from the internet. Of course there are radio plays/readers' theatre scripts out there which should be listed in the French or Dramatists catalogues, but if you want the flavor of old time radio, the original scripts are the best way to go. I'm at school right now and I don't have any way of contacting my husband until late afternoon, but I would be happy to ask him for the website where these scripts are available. I'll post again as soon as I have that. I also suspect that if you Google something like "vintage radio drama scripts" you might come up with some. Anyone else on the board have any ideas where to access radio scripts? ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: Mike Polo
Date Posted: 9/28/06 at 8:41am
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We ended up writing our own... special circumstances. I was just starting the first blocking rehearsal for "Ladies of the Camillias" when our treasurer came into the theater with a letter from the publisher pulling our rights; seems a professional group in Philadelphia had decided to do the show. We whipped up a script in about 10 days and had a very successful run, but I wouldn't recommend the method to anyone... it takes a lot more time and editing to make something like that work well. ------------- Mike Polo Community Theater Green Room http://www.communitytheater.org http://www.twitter.com/CTGreenRoom"> 
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Posted By: dougb
Date Posted: 9/28/06 at 10:43am
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We used to do a lot of radio shows and they were very popular. Alas, our schedule has been too full the last two years to fit them in. The actors liked the short rehearsal schedule, the audiences liked to see the sfx being done live. We have a good friend of our theater who has a syndicated radio show (Imagination Theater and the Harry Nile Series - you can listen to them on XMRadio channel 163 - the shows air 8 times a day 5 days a week) who lets us use his scripts. We do three half hour programs in an evening and write our own spoof of commercials to run during the shows. If anyone is interested I would be glad to contact him to see if he would be interested in licensing the shows to other theaters. Doug |
Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 9/29/06 at 9:45am
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We have a local theatre group doing Dracula for Hallowe'en. If you want, I can check with them to see where they got the script and license. ------------- POB Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 9/29/06 at 12:00pm
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castMe - My husband should be posting the website for downloadable public domain radio scripts this afternoon, but I just found another one that looks pretty good. I haven't examined it thoroughly, but you might want to take a look at http://www.simplyscripts.com - http://www.simplyscripts.com Hope that helps! red diva ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 9/29/06 at 12:35pm
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Thats a good one Red... Lori F. has been promoting that one at the playhouse for a while...
------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 9/29/06 at 4:24pm
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Marty - do you mean that's a good website, or the idea to do a radio show is a good one? Or both? "Red" (indeed) ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 9/29/06 at 4:53pm
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Thank you Ms Diva. I will check it out. I love radio. Looks don't matter. Hair doesn't matter. LOL ------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 10/02/06 at 1:05pm
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Exactly, castMe! Or wear wigs. Those are some of the many reasons I like radio too! Oooooo...I like the "Ms Diva", but you needn't be so formal....I was just pulling Marty's chain because we're from the same theatre and he's never been that "familiar" with me before! (guffaw!!!! ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
)Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 10/02/06 at 2:32pm
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Well I was talking about the website, but hey whatever.... Always in favor of more theater.. You know that.. ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 10/02/06 at 5:46pm
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Formal, smormal, I never know when I might need to call you to fill in at a moments notice, Ms Diva. I might just as well stay on your good side.  ------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: Juror #3
Date Posted: 10/06/06 at 3:18pm
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We have used genericradio.com to obtain radio scripts that are royalty free. There are many good titles available. A lot of "Suspense" shows and other dramas originally performed on radio in the 1940s. ------------- Juror #3 |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 10/06/06 at 3:25pm
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re: castMe's "I might need to call you to fill in at a moment's notice"...SURE!!! Have greasepaint will travel! Wait...where are you located? Oh, you're in the US; then that's ok. "Ms" Diva ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |