Image Up Advertising & Design

The cast from the Lone Ranger The cast of Amanda of Honeymoon Hill. Radio Theatre Alive & Well By Tom Shelley, Radio Theater Director Ah-ah-ah… don't touch that dial! If you remember that line, then you remember the fun we had sitting in the living room after the dinner dishes were done getting ready to listen to your favorite radio program. We couldn't wait to hear what adventure the "Shadow" would have to deal with tonight. Or what mischief "Archie" would get into. About a year ago my sister and brother were coming to visit me and since we are all a bunch of "hams," I thought it would be fun to find an old radio script and do a radio show in the living room. My sister's friend now lives here in Four Seasons and she came to visit. After dinner, we sat in the living room and put on our own radio show. We had a ball! One thing lead to another and it was suggested that perhaps others here might enjoy this as well. I was pleased with the enthusiastic response I received when I presented the idea to the Performing Arts Club. The premise is a natural fit in our community. There are lots of folks here who have thought it would be fun to do something in the field of entertainment but don't want to memorize dialog or spend hours in rehearsal. Maybe, like me, they don't get around as well as they once did. Well, Radio Theater (Reader's Theater) is the answer.  We do strive to put on the best show so there is some rehearsal time. Although we are able to use a script in the show, the more familiar we are with it, the better the performance. The focus is to have fun doing something a bit different in a relatively nonthreatening environment. It's a thrill to hear positive comments after a performance, both from the audience and from other cast members who are all anxious to start working on the next program.  WFSB presents: The Lone Ranger! Friday night, Oct. 4th, we were at it again! We had a wonderful time presenting two different episodes of old radio shows to an enthusiastic audience.  We recreated a 1954 episode of The Lone Ranger titled "Trouble at the Rafter 'H'." The cast enhanced their roles by wearing appropriate costumes. Tom Wasco played two roles, Tonto and Thunder Martin, and had a dialog with himself while Zelene Rudolph stood behind him, keeping Tom and the audience on cue, switching head gear as Tom switched accents as each of the two characters spoke his lines. The cast included Sheldon Craig, as The Lone Ranger; Gerald Gaines as Marshall Jack Forbes; Mary Lou Keating, Clarabelle Hornblow; Chris Pike, Announcer/Narrator and Tom Shelley as Dade Shelby and director. The hoof beats, gun shots and door sounds were all deftly handled by Susan Youel and Zelene Rudolf with great timing. We switched gears with our second presentation, offering a 1940s look at two families struggling with the loss of a young mother and the competing grandmothers arguing over the placement of her new born daughter. The two grandmothers, played by Barbara Wasco and Roberta Hoku, managed to create the tension that one would expect from strong-willed matriarchs determined to have control of their granddaughter. Chris Pike and Zelene Rudolf played newlyweds who tried desperately to maintain a sense of calm in the situation. Teri Meyers-Kelman, as the nurse, left us all wondering what solution she had up her sleeve. The audience was left asking "who got the baby?" We'll just have to wait for the sequel! Sheldon Craig came through, once again, with a terrific job as the commercial announcer. Susan Youel masterfully handled the sound effects in this performance as well.  Later that evening I received an e-mail from a cast member telling me how much she enjoyed doing the show and that several people shared her sentiment. The best comment was from the person who told her that when she closed her eyes, she was transported back to the time, when as a youngster, she lay in bed listening to her favorite radio programs. Now, to me, that's a "win/win"! Community News | FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2013 5

• Cover