Students prep live radio play, ‘Vintage Hitchcock’

“We have never produced a show like this before, and the kids are very excited about it,” said director Jeff Sams. “It’s not a new idea, doing a live radio play, but it’s something we haven’t done here at the school before.”

Written by Joe Landry, a group of actors will present three episodes from Alfred Hitchcock’s canon of films done as a radio play, incorporating suspense, murder, mystery, chase scenes and car crashes.

Performance dates are Feb. 19-21. There will also be a special, free show for seniors with lunch on Feb. 18.

Sams said all of the show’s sound effects will be created on stage by two student Foley artists. A Foley artist is “a person who creates (or re-creates) sounds for movies” (or in this case, for plays). A piano player will play all of the music, and actors speak directly into microphones, just as they would have done in the 1940s and 1950s in a live radio studio.

The cast of “Vintage Hitchcock” includes Alexis Clifford (Stage Manager); Caedmon Mills (Our Announcer); Paul Dunn (Actor #1); Dylan Gray (Actor #2); Bill Franer (Actor #3); Allison Blankenship (Actress #1); Leanna Roberts (Actress #2); Kelsea Penny (Actress #3); Madison Ramsey (Actress #4); Lindsey Hurst (Foley Artist #1); Jake Hurst (Foley Artist #2) and Nick Kakaris (Piano.)

“This has been a lot of fun, because it has allowed us to look at a different style of acting, which is acting for radio, and what does performance on the radio look like compared to performance in a theater,” Sams said.

It’s been challenging, because there’s not a lot of movement for the actors, except to and from the microphones. So, we’ve been working on how to entertain and engage an audience when we’re just standing at microphones, and what can we do to make this an exciting production, he said.

“This supports arts in schools, and I think it’s really important that we don’t lose that. And, it’s an opportunity to see a type of show that’s very different, which has some nostalgia to it, and it’s a suspense story,” Sams said.