[NEohioPAL] "Radio Boy" at Geauga Theater

[Bob Abelman]

Retro Radio Boy shows forward thinking

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This commentary appeared in the News-Herald 11/20/09

 

The Geauga Lyric Theater Guild has discovered a way to put rears in the tiers of its community theater amidst dwindling audiences for the performing arts.  

 

Last weekend the Geauga Theater offered the world premiere of Radio Boy, an original drama written by Chesterland-based playwright Joanne Durante.  The story follows the life of young Davey Foster, whose family moves to Chardon to find work during The Great Depression.  

The production is a radio drama within a drama.  As Davey listens to the radio on one side of the stage, the audience witnesses the enactment of the big-band musical numbers and melodramatic skits in the radio station studio on the other side of the stage.  Soon, the stories being told on the radio morph into a narration of Davey's life.  "Boundaries blur in this drama," suggests director Mark Cipra, "as the play's focus shifts between the staged radio drama, Davey's troubled world and Davey's fertile imagination."

 

By staging an original play by a local playwright, the GLTG brain-trust generated a buzz that worked its way through the local community weeks before the production opened.  The buzz still exists.  There is certainly a place for yet another production of Annie in a community theater's schedule, but the staging of something original and innovative shakes up the entertainment landscape.  The landscape needs shaking in order to revitalize interest and inspire attendance.   

 

By bringing in a well-credentialed director to spearhead this production, the GLTG opened up avenues for artistic vision that expand homegrown sensibilities and bypass long-held, self-induced creative constraints.  Known directors also attract regional talent to community theaters, which can supplement, diversify and energize the local talent pool.  

 

This production also put the "community" back in community theater.  Radio Boy served as a fundraising initiative to help transform property on historic Chardon Square into a full-service, multi-discipline center for the arts and arts education.  Art instructors donated original artworks for a silent auction.  Some local business contributed items for sale during intermission.  Others provided 1930's artifacts for display in the lobby.  In turn, their advertisements worked their way into the on-stage radio program.  

 

The Sunday matinee performance was a gift to the community.  It was a pay-what-you-can affair that attracted over 180 folks, some who could not normally afford a ticket.  Area schools received free tickets for one of the productions, introducing live theater to the next generation of potential patrons. 


Originality, vision and community are key ingredients for the success of a community theater during a time of intense competition for entertainment dollars.  So is quality.  

 

Unfortunately, Radio Boy was conceived, written and staged in just four months.  This was not nearly enough time to fine-tune the complex script, handpick talent and crew, and coordinate and work out all the technical details in this ambitious production.  More time would have allowed the large ensemble cast and band members to better ready themselves for what was the equivalent of a live radio broadcast each evening.  Originality, vision and community will bring people to community theaters.  Quality will bring them back.

 

Former GLTG board president Andy Wyatt, current board president Greg Pribulsky, and executive director Chris Cipriani should be applauded. They engaged in what most community theater organizations fail to even envision.   

 

This endeavor should be seen as a beginning rather than as a means to an end.  Here's hoping for future installments of Radio Boy on the Geauga Theater stage, turning a stand-alone drama into episodic productions.  The playwright can explore the role of radio in the lives of other families touched by the technology and showcase even more of the huge catalog of big band music.  The GLTG can continue its new-found tradition of inviting members of the local community to be a part of the festivities and, perhaps, pay what they can.

 

Here's hoping other community theaters follow suit.
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