All Ears Theatre preserving historic art form

By Teddy Rogge
Western Herald

On Nov. 29 at 3:30 p.m. the “Gold of Adomar” will air on 102.1 WMUK-FM as part of the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo’s All Ears Theatre series.  As with the rest of the shows in the series, “Gold of Adomar” was a free performance at the First Baptist Church and recorded in front of a live audience.

“It truly is in many ways preserving a historic art form,” said Ann Drummond, communications director for the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. “Something that otherwise might be lost,”

“It’s not usual that you see the live radio broadcast serial-type shows now. So this is really a unique opportunity, not only to see it in person but also to hear the end result on the air.”

“Gold of Adomar” tells the story of a sea captain in search of the legendary wreck of the Adomar that sank and took its precious cargo of gold with it.  The script was produced by local writer Ross Murray and the play was directed by Jeff Mais.

The All Ears Theatre productions cover a wide variety of plays from adaptations of classics like “Jack and the Beanstalk”  and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat,” to the well received “Green Hornet” and “The Man Who Was Invisible,” a two-part adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic.

The series also features many original works ranging from the space adventures of “Rock Corry and His Cadet Rangers” to a boy’s search to find out his heritage and ultimately himself in “Lost in Kazoo.”

“All of the productions are family friendly,” said Drummond. “So you really have a mixed audience, it doesn’t speak to a particular demographic. Although I can say that it definitely has its appeal for those that can remember listening to the radio and these kinds of shows on the air when they first existed in their original format.”

Auditions for the productions are open to anyone and participants are paid.

The next auditions will take place on Dec. 16 and 17 between 7 and 9 p.m. for the plays “Green Hornet,” “Ethel and Albert” and “Lost in Kazoo.” Auditions are held at the Epic Center in the garden level classroom.
All shows are made possible by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 25 2008. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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