LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Actors Dial Back to Radio Theater Glory Days

By Sentinel Staff
    Radio Adventure Hour challenges actors to create characters using just their voices, and the audience to visualize the stories in the way audiences did in the glory days of radio theater.
    But it’s the challenge that keeps drawing performers – novices and experienced actors – to the audio artform that was perfected in the days before TV edged out radio as the dominant home entertainment medium.
    “It’s been a challenge trying to play a character with an accent, talking at the speed of a reporter, keep up diction and understand what’s happening,” said Tina Bachmeier, who will be on stage Friday, Nov. 16, in the Sitka Community Theater’s Radio Adventure Hour.
    It will be held at the Performing Arts Center.

Radio actors and sound effects workers in “The Cable Car Mystery” perform in front of a vintage picture of San Francisco in a 2016 production at the Performing Arts Center. The next series of radio plays will be performed Nov. 16 at the Performing Arts Center. (Sentinel file photo by James Poulson)

    Bachmeier will play Marie Thompson, in the original radio play, “The Aristocrat Who Never Was,” written by Sotera Perez.
    “We’re really relying on our voices and the content of each of the plays, and the sound effects from our amazing sound effects team, because they do such a great job,” said Ashia Lane. She plays Original Poppy, in “Poppy’s Potion,” a humorous fairy tale gone amok, by Zeke Blackwell.
    The event is a live radio production of original works, performed before an audience – with actors reading their scripts in front of microphones, and with sound effects created in the style of an old-time radio theater productions.
    KCAW-FM records the show for broadcast later.
    “The idea behind radio theater is, in the spirit of the radio plays popular before the advent of television,” said Perez, who is also the program coordinator. “One of the compelling things is the audience gets to see us create live sound effects, also called ‘foley work.’”
    The show runs about an hour and features four 10-minute plays written by local playwrights:
    Besides “Aristocrat” and “Poppy’s Potion,” there are “Fall on Your Sword,” by Seaton Bryan, and “Death Valley Junction,” by Brian Hullfish. The playwrights also directed their own shows.
    The name Radio Adventure Hour was intended to capture the spirit of the production, which the plays have to fit into the one-hour time constraint of a radio schedule.
    “In all the pieces ... we try to make them as exciting and thrilling as we can, and we need it to fit into a time slot,” Perez said.
    When SCT started the radio theater production, its intention was to draw in new actors who might not want to commit to a full-scale play production, or who didn’t want to memorize lines. Radio theater rehearsals take place over about four weeks, with rehearsals running once a week.
    Cliff Richter made his first foray into radio theater – and theater in general – performing in an original play written by Perez last year.
    “I enjoyed participating in something that was locally written,” he said. “I enjoyed being part of something homegrown.”
    This year he plays the role of Simpson in “Fall on Your Sword,” one of the main characters.
    So far, rehearsals have been going well.
    “We’re making good progress,” Richter said. “It’s really exciting to see it come together, and to start visualizing what’s happening.”
    Having sound effects at rehearsals has helped, he said.
    “It starts to feel like you’re actually there. I feel good about where it’s headed,” Richter said.
    Bryan is performing in Blackwell’s play, in addition to directing his own, “Fall on Your Sword.” He plays Poppy’s evil father-in-law, and has been enjoying playing an intimidating, over-the-top character.
    “It’s so fun,” he said of “Poppy’s Potion.” “(Blackwell) wrote a really fun play. ... It’s funny and well-written. I’m glad to be a part of it.”
    “Sword” is the first play he’s written, which started out as a writing exercise. He was inspired by the type of “Indiana Jones-pulpy adventure shows” that were produced in the old days of radio theater, and also wanted to write something light.
    “I knew a couple of the other pieces would be more serious, and I wanted to write something a little more comic-relief-oriented,” he said.
    The piece written by Perez uses noir films as a model, in the spirit of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
    “A reporter who uncovers a huge story, and has to decide what to do with the information she finds,” Perez said.
    Bachmeier said acting in one of the lead roles of that play has been a challenge, but entertaining as well.
    “I just love the people involved in Radio Theater; it’s a really fun project,” she said.
    Hullfish had acted in stage and radio productions in the past and wanted to try his hand at writing a script. The result is a sinister ghost story, set in the desert.
    As the story opens, “ ... a young woman runs from a waking nightmare, and learns it is not so easy to outrun a ghost...”
    Radio Adventure Hour will be staged 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, at the Sitka Performing Arts Center, a production of the Greater Sitka Arts Council’s Sitka Community Theater.
    Tickets are on sale at Old Harbor Books, $10 for adults, and $8 for students and seniors.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

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