Drama Club Starts Progress on Radio Show

The Old Rochester Drama Club is trying something new this winter. Instead of doing just any old play, they’re doing a radio show! Don’t worry, you will still get to see the actors, but they will be standing onstage, in costume, saying their lines directly into a microphone.

This will give insight into what used to happen in a radio studio before televisions were invented, when people made their own sound effects in-house and read right from the scripts.

Radio shows were most popular in the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, before televisions dominated the home-entertainment industry. Programs ranged anywhere from comedy, to drama, to horror, and everything in between. As you will notice when you watch the play, even commercials were woven into the program.

One freshman said that the play is focused a lot more on sounds and voices than actions. The casts’ vocal performances will be much exaggerated, and the sound crew will actually be onstage making the sound effects.

He is right. Everyone on the sound crew, which usually only attends rehearsals once a week, will need to come after school on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights just like the onstage cast this year. This is definitely a major difference between this show and some of the previous shows that the club has performed in the past as its winter play, such as A Christmas Carol or Romeo and Juliet.

Auditions were held on the Monday of Labor Day and Tuesday, September 2, and the first read through of the script was Monday, September 8. At the rehearsal on Monday, Paul Sardinha, the seasoned director of the club, told the group that there was nothing to be afraid of.

“This isn’t the most confusing play we’ve done,” said Sardinha. He later revealed that it was Noises Off, a show they did in the ‘90s, that won the title of most confusing.

This year’s production of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show is set to take place the week before Thanksgiving.

The show stars Kyle Costa as the stage manager, Ian MacLellan as George Bailey, Holly Frink as Mary, and Will Lynch as Clarence, George’s guardian angel.

Since the story is such a well-known and much-loved classic, it puts a lot of pressure on the drama club to make it the best it can be.

The play is anticipated to be big, an important production and stepping-stone in the journey of the Old Rochester Drama Club.

“This play is going to be like nothing the drama club has ever done before,” said sophomore Mary Roussell. “We’re really breaking the fourth wall, and this play involves a lot of interaction with the audience. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.”

Proper execution is imperative with this show – the same, if not more, than other shows over the years.

“The problem with doing a well-known play is that if you mess up, everyone will notice,” said Sardinha on Monday night. He continued to say that he knows everyone will do wonderfully, and that he knows they won’t be messing up anyway.

By Emma Cadieux

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