On The Radio: pt.2

Magdalyn Donnelly as Julie

Sadie Grossman as Toni

Betsy Hogg as Lydia

Preliminary recording is complete - everyone was completely wonderful. I am very excited - and apprehensive - about how it will sound, once we get everything in the right order and add the music and sound effects. Okay, very apprehensive.

Dave, Al and I will get together at the end of September to complete the process. None of us can get together before then, I am back in residency rehearsals for Great Lakes and that's very time consuming. We are planning on a Thanksgiving-time airing.

On The Radio: pt. 1

Tom Weaver & Nick Koesters



Acting. Thank you.



Scott Plate as Henrik



The calm, reassuring voice of Brian Pedaci.



Dee Perry as Nurse Angel.



Ali Garrigan as the Midwife.



Dorothy & Reuben Silver as my parents.

(Not pictured; actors Nina Domingue and Sadie Grossman, producer Dave DeOreo and engineer Al Dahlhausen.)

We will finish preliminary recording in two weeks, with Magdalyn Donnelly and Betsy Hogg. We got most of the dialogue down in a four-hour session which was remarkably productive. Everyone was wonderful - better than I could have hoped. I was alternately stunned with the originality of the interpretations, or the spot-on reinterpretations of my work.

Dee asked if it was odd to have people performing the other parts when I have grown so used to playing them all myself. The fact is, I loved it. As much as I cherish doing the show on my own, playing against other readers was just a kick. I hope it sounds as good when Dave and I get to editing it as I think it came off today. Thank you, thank you, thank you, people!

Don't ask when it will air, we don't know that yet. When it does, I am sure it will appear here first.

Grading Our Grief

Hey, this is cool. I got my evaluations back from the conference at Metro - remember, the performance that took place 38 hours after Orson was born? I wasn't expecting to see the evaluations, this is a first for me.

A lot of the comments are on the conference as a whole, and so I can't take them as directly relating to my work. But this is the first score that is on my show in specific:

Were the objectives achieved?
I HATE THIS: Identify effect of child's death on relationships with family and professional caregivers.
YES: 122 NO: 6

Six? Six people thought those objectives (pretty round objectives) weren't achieved with my show? What kind of philistines are they? Who pissed in their Wheaties that morning?

Seriously, however, it's an overwhelming positive report (sheeyah, except for some half-dozen wieners I could mention) and the written comments were even more encouraging; Powerful, Bravo, The use of the arts was a powerful teaching tool and so on. It's been a wearying week, and this package really lifted my spirits. It's good to know the work is making an effect.

One person responded to the question "How will you change your behavior because of this program?" by stating they would "Do some reading about John Adams and John Quincy Adams." Didn't get that. But suddenly I am possessed with a desire to read about them, too.

Everything Is Illuminated

Perhaps I should explain. Since the first run-through I have had lame suggestions that the show would work better with other actors playing the other characters. Since the whole show is essentially a monologue, a story playing inside my head, I thought that was not a good idea. Better I just tell it.

While there are no plans for video, I would feel the same on that score, too. Attempting to depictthe scenes "as they happened" would rob the show of some of it's distance, and a lot of my commentary on it. Also, a lot of characters aren't meant to be thought of as accurate, but representations of how I received them at the time.

Radio is different. I wasn't sure how it would sound to hear my voice for an hour, without seeing the movement. I fear that would be extremely dull. So I asked some of the most talented voices in Cleveland to play all parts that aren't me. I will provide a cast list in the near future.

So, no, Henrik, you won't get to hear me play Lydia on the recording. Who you will get is better.

Radio Radio

An hour-long radio version of IHT for WCPN 90.3 FM is in the works. Stay tuned to this station for more details.