Theatre companies across the country have had to get creative during the coronavirus pandemic, performing plays over video communication platforms or in open outdoor spaces.
But when brainstorming how Pellissippi State Community College could give its theatre students the experience they need while still adhering to social distancing protocols, Professor Charles R. Miller didn’t look to the future of theatre.
He looked to the past.
“Why re-invent the wheel?” asked Miller, theatre program coordinator. “Radio drama has been around for 100 years.”
Pellissippi State will present a double feature of two short radio plays – “The Lone Ranger Redux” and the science fiction piece “Think Like a Dinosaur” – at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18.
The plays will be performed back-to-back by Pellissippi State students, broadcast live on the college’s YouTube channel and recorded for later listening by Pellissippi State’s audio production engineering faculty and students.
There is no fee to listen.
“In the past six months, we have seen a lot of Zoom theatre, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” Miller said. “But radio dramas use the power of imagination.”
“The Lone Ranger Redux” is one of the original radio broadcasts of “The Lone Ranger” from 1933, with some updating by Miller and his theatre students.
“There will be some socially aware commentary in it, in that the characters will step out of the play to remark on current events, but in a humorous way,” Miller explained.
For example, the character of Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger, will react to outdated stereotypes and racial slurs in the script. Miller described the updated Tonto as “quietly, morally outraged in a way that’s also funny.”
The second radio play, “Think Like a Dinosaur,” is based on the award-winning science fiction novelette by James Patrick Kelly. Set in the far future and centering on alien technology and alien races, the play resembles “an episode of a sci-fi series, but self-contained,” Miller said.
“This play is a little more dramatic and thought provoking.”
It’s the first time Pellissippi State has produced radio plays, and they are challenging the college’s theatre students in new and different ways.
“You don’t have the distractions of the set, the costumes and the facial expressions, so everything you’re doing with your voice, your breath – that’s what the audience is getting,” he said. “It’s all you.”
Because of restrictions on having guests on campus during the coronavirus pandemic, Miller limited participation in the radio plays to Pellissippi State students instead of opening them up to the community. Twelve students will be acting in the plays, two will be providing sound effects and two will be working on the audio recording.
During technical rehearsals and performances, actors will be spaced 15 to 20 feet from each other around the perimeter of the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the College’s Hardin Valley Campus, Miller said. The additional distance between students addresses that actors and musicians can spread respiratory droplets farther than those who talk without projecting their voices.
“Doing it live creates the kind of energy that is important to actors, but we will record it so that it can be enjoyed later by those who are not available to listen to it live.”
To tune in to “The Lone Ranger Redux” and ”Think Like a Dinosaur” live, visit youtube.com/PellissippiState at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, or 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18.
Lesli Bales-Sherrod does marketing and writing for Pellissippi State Community College.