NIGHT BEAT: THE ELEVATOR and
SORRY WRONG NUMBER by Lucille Fletcher
Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 7:30pm
Night Beat aired on NBC from February 6, 1950 until September 25, 1952, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Wheaties. It followed Randy Stone, an intrepid reporter who covered the night beat for the Chicago Star, "searching through the city for the strange stories waiting for him in the darkness." Played by Frank Lovejoy, the reporter was an interesting combination of a tough guy with humanity. More than 100 episodes of Night Beat were produced. This one, The Elevator Caper, aired on May 8, 1950.
Sorry Wrong Number, though well known from the 1948 film with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, was written by Lucille Fletcher in 1943 for broadcast on radio's Suspense anthology series. It is the story of a bedridden invalid, played by Agnes Moorehead, terrorized after accidentally overhearing a murder plot on the telephone. The program was so popular that it was repeated seven more times over the 20 year run of Suspense, with Agnes Moorehead reprising her role each time.
THE SILENT AVENGER by Orson Welles and
THE HITCHHIKER by Lucille Fletcher
Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 7:30pm
On July 31, 1930 a sinister voice came over the radio into American homes when the Shadow was heard for
the first time. In the beginning the Shadow was not a crime fighter, but a mysterious narrator of mystery tales
taken from the pages of Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine. This format continued until 1935 when
creative differences between Street & Smith and NBC called a halt to the Shadow on the air. On September 26,
1937, the Shadow returned to the radio, with the voice of Orson Welles. The Shadow was now not just a narrator of stories, but a full-fledged character: Lamont Cranston, wealthy man about town, who had a hypnotic power to make himself invisible to those around him, and
mental telepathy to read minds. He was accompanied by Margo Lane, originally played by Agnes
Moorehead, who was the only person who knew that Lamont Cranston and the Shadow were one and the
same. This radio Shadow was played by Orson Welles through March 1938,but the show continued to run through 1954,
becoming the highest rated radio show on the air. The Shadow radio program became a part of American culture with its mystic phrase, "Who knows what evil lurks in
the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" The show used its popularity to try to deter crime with its admonition,
"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay!" Every listener knew that the Shadow was out there,
fighting the forces of evil and bringing wrong-doers to justice.
Lucille Fletcher was a film and television screenwriter whose credits included the story The Hitchhiker,
later turned into a radio drama by Orson Welles and a memorable Twilight Zone episode of the same name.
Fletcher also wrote the screenplay for the film noir suspense thriller Sorry, Wrong Number, which was an expanded
version of her 30-minute radio drama script.
The cast for both radio shows includes: Rich Ames, Shari Damron-Billy, Jim
Buschmann, Gary Franklin, Nikolai Kassatkin, Marilyn McCormick, and Gayle Susan. Our foley artist is Daniel L.
Lawrence.
DRACULA by Bram Stoker, adapted by Orson Welles
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a classic thriller featuring the Prince of Darkness? We will perform Orson Welle's adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic "Dracula", broadcast in July 1938 as the first show produced by the Mercury Theatre of the Air.
No creature haunting Western society's collective imagination has proven more enduring, more compelling, or more alluring than the vampire. On the radio, Orson Welles' version of Dracula became an instant classic. Welles' radio career is inextricably linked with "The War of the Worlds", the sci-fi story of an alien invasion that caused widespread panic when its broadcast was thought to be an actual news bulletin. However, this was Welles' 29th show in the Mercury Theatre of the Air series. "Dracula" was the first.
Director Gary Franklin has created a vivid, intense production close in style and spirit to both the original Bram Stoker novel and the Welles radio production. The show chronicles the vampire's journey from Transylvania to London where he seeks the human blood that he needs to remain alive, while Dr. Seward and Dr. Van Helsing struggle to destroy him and free the world of his horrific power.
Performing in the mode of the Golden Age of live radio, the players stand in front of microphones on the stage, flanked by sound effects specialists. The cast includes
Victor Howard as Seward,
Jim Berry as Harker,
Jim Buschmann as Dracula,
Nikolai Kossatkin as Van Helsing,
Shari Damron-Billy as Lucy,
Queena DeLany as Mina and
Gary Franklin as the Rest of the Cast.
Why come to the theatre when you can stay home and listen on the radio? In this production, we will use the classic techniques of radio theatre which are fun to watch. Watch our foley artist,
Daniel L. Lawrence, use strange everyday objects to make the sounds that you hear in the radio show. Watch the director and sound technician work with the actors to put the show together in real time.
