BE ADAPTABLE

In the spring of 2013, Susan McClelland was driving down Main Street in Zionsville, listening to WITT 91.9 FM Zionsville radio.  Just as she came to the 'T' at Ash Street, she wished there was more radio drama to listen to.

And then it hit her:  she could make some herself.  

She called me with her idea and I considered it for quite a long...okay, for about a millisecond.  

YES.  

What a great idea!  

And so we started a radio drama project: Zionsville Radio Players.

We began by adapting classic literature into radio scripts.  Boy, did we adapt.  We wrote, re-wrote, adapted, adapted, adapted.

Susan suggested that our motto should be: BE ADAPTABLE.

How prescient!  

Turns out, adaptation has been the primary activity in our little project.  There just aren't any templates out there for what we are doing.  We're flying by the seat of our pants.  

We're making it up as we go along.  

We've had to re-schedule, re-work, re-write, re-record.  

We've had to back down, back off, back up (as in, return to a previously-visited spot), back up (as in, save our work on flash drive!), back each other.  

We've had to learn how to adapt non-dramatic material to our medium, adapt our acting styles, adapt our directing styles, adapt our schedules.  

And adapt our schedules when we've lost recordings to server crashes.

We've bitten off more than we can chew, we've scheduled more than we could do, we've added and subtracted.   

It's been quite a year, and we've learned a lot.  And there's plenty more to be learned.  

But if there's one thing we've learned it's...BE ADAPTABLE.

Good thinkin', Susan.  

WE'RE AT IT AGAIN

It's time for the first ZRP project of 2014!

May is National Short Story Month, and to celebrate, ZRP will be broadcasting three performances of scripts adapted from classic short stories.  They are:

The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs, adapted by Susan McClelland;
The Open Window by Saki, adapted by Patricia See;
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, adapted by Susan McClelland.

The casts:

The Monkey's Paw:
               Mr. White:  Dave Eckard
               Mrs. White: Cindy Wampler
               Herbert: John Griffin
               Sergeant-Major Morris:  Jim Lucas
               Mr. Jacobs: Bill Havlin

Director:  Patricia See;  Assistant Director, Amanda Westendorf; Sound Design by Martin See

The Open Window:

               Hamilton Peabody:  Jaime Johnson
               Olivia Crump:  Leanne Piper
               Clara: Amanda Westendorf
               Mrs. Sappleton: Patsy See
               Mr. Sappleton:  George Piper
               Maid:  Patty Leonardi

Director: Susan McClelland; Sound Design: Susan McClelland

The Yellow Wallpaper:

              The Narrator:  Susan McClelland
               John: Larry Adams

Director: Len Mozzi; Sound Design: Susan McClelland and Len Mozzi

Our introductions and narrations will be done by Roger "Pipes" Manning and our engineering will be done by Jared Boomer at WICR 88.7 FM.

First read-through was yesterday and everyone already sounded GREAT!  These stories are going to be a dynamite way to celebrate National Short Story Month.  To read more, go here:  http://shortstorymonth.com/

Watch this space for further developments!

CULMINATION

Today's the BIG DAY.

At 6:30 tonight, in the deepening dark of winter, the premier of ZRP's A Christmas Carol will air on WITT 91.9 FM.  

Whew.

It was a labor of love for script adaptor Susan McClelland.  The original Dickens story has always been close to her heart and adapting it for a one-hour radio show was a delightful challenge for her.  Her extensive and eclectic collection of music aided her in the sound design of the show.

It was a new medium for most of us.  Director Len Mozzi, a veteran stage director of everything from improv to Shakespeare, explored this new medium with enthusiasm and expertise. His ability to adapt to the new medium, to see this old story with new eyes and  his ability to bring out the very best in every actor was a gift to us all.

Len brought us a fresh take on this old Christmas ghost story: he felt  that the miraculous transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from miser to merry-maker was not the result of his fear of ghosts; it was the result of the love that surrounded him, from the loving guidance of his old friend Marley to the kindly and good-humored acceptance of his nephew Fred to the forgiveness of Bob Cratchit.  

This was a new concept for most of us.  Accustomed to traditional interpretations, most of us took for granted that Scrooge was scared out of his stingy ways and into a more generous way of life; the idea that love, not fear, was the catalyst for transformation informed every performance and the arc of the entire production. 

Armed with this fresh view of old material,  ZRP got to work.

ZRP was blessed with a stellar cast; every actor found his/her "voice." Some had participated in the medium before; some had not; but all were willing to learn and adapt and portray their characters with gusto and grace. 

We have John Griffin to thank for brokering a partnership with WICR 88.7 FM at University of Indianapolis for engineering the show.  We must extend thanks to Scott Uecker and Russ Maloney at WICR for agreeing to it.  And we owe a huge thank you to Jared Boomer, student station manager and patient production engineer,  for offering us his finely-honed skills at the board, his perseverance and great good humor through it all.

The production of A Christmas Carol was not without its obstacles;  after recording the entire show, the server that held it crashed and lost half the show.  It was back to the studio for everyone, whose commitment to the project was tested and passed with honors.  And then... Jared discovered that we had failed to record a short passage of narration.  Narrator Sam "Dickens" Fogleman, found himself hauling it back to the studio on a snowy morning.  And then again...for reasons known only to the cyber-gods, a couple of segments of dialogue just disappeared into the ether.  And now Jared was back in the studio, looking for them.  

And then.....done.  At last.  And not a moment too soon.  

As I sat in front of the fire last night at the home of Susan and Franklin McClelland listening to the show with the rest of the cast  (which you can see listed here), I marveled at this wonderful, wonder-filled production and all who had a hand in its completion.  It seems impossible that Zionsville Radio Players didn't exist a year ago--in fact, wasn't even in the concept stage.  And yet here we are clustered around the "wireless," listening to the old heart-warming story, made new again by using a fresh medium, fresh voices and a fresh perspective.  

May we all be blessed by the joys of the season and the transforming gift of love in the coming year.  

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: AN ACTOR'S PERSPECTIVE--PART III

(NOTE:  Zionsville Radio Players is currently in production of an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel A Christmas Carol.  The script was adapted by co-founder Susan McClelland, was directed by Len Mozzi, rehearsed in Oct. and Nov. and is now being recorded in two sessions at the WICR studios at the University of Indianapolis.  The following was written by actor Dr. Larry Adams, who plays the role of Jacob Marley.  It will be presented in three parts.)

PART III

As I look once more around this eclectic group of friends and new acquaintences, it strikes me how strange it is we should all be working on this project together, how different our perspectives on Christmas are. How some of us this year will celebrate the birth of a newborn Savior found lying in a manger, while others most certainly will not and cannot; and still others of us linger in between, no longer hearing angel choruses or following mystical stars, yet somehow unable to shake the feeling that there is something important, something true lying just beneath the surface. These are the differences that stoke the flames of the yearly battle over “the reason for the season.” It’s a tired debate, but I suspect there are many reasons, or many facets to “the” reason, whatever it may be. Perhaps, though, there is one reason upon which all of us sitting here tonight can agree, the one Dickens envisioned so powerfully and lasteningly in this classic tale, and the one I hope we can share with a holiday-weary radio audience: the power of love- whether coming from the divine, or simply from family, friends, or strangers. Or even from a decidedly non-Jedi ghost. Surely love is the reason for the season, wherever one takes it from there.

So perhaps Dickens was right after all to set his tale in this time of the year and to place “Christmas” in its title. 

But still- why a “Carol”? 

Maybe because a carol is a song of joy. And what greater joy this season- and every season- than the transforming power of love? The power to transform even an Ebeneezer Scrooge. 

The power to transform a world.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: AN ACTOR'S PERSPECTIVE--PART II

(NOTE:  Zionsville Radio Players is currently in production of an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel A Christmas Carol.  The script was adapted by co-founder Susan McClelland, was directed by Len Mozzi, rehearsed in Oct. and Nov. and is now being recorded in two sessions at the WICR studios at the University of Indianapolis.  The following was written by actor Dr. Larry Adams, who plays the role of Jacob Marley.  It will be presented in three parts.)

PART II

I set these questions aside as our director, Len Mozzi, calls the group to order. After a few introductions and warm-up exercises, the rehearsal begins in earnest, and I hurriedly glance through the few pages of the script I had printed out scant minutes earlier to familiarize myself with my role: Scrooge’s business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley is most definitely dead as Dickens’ tale begins, but at this point in the rehearsal process, I frankly can’t tell you much more about him than that. I keep flashing back to Alec Guinness in the role, from the 1970 movie musical I had seen as a lad, so when we reach my grand entrance tonight, I sound uncomfortably like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Serviceable, I think to myself, for a Dickensian supporting spirit in a show, but little more. Fortunately, Len wants more.

“I’d like to try something different,” he says, mercifully interrupting me before I go full-fledged Jedi on him. “Dickens makes a point to say that you’re Scrooge’s friend. His only friend. Don’t talk to him as a ghost. I want you to try talking to him as his friend.”

A minor thing, really. A tweak. No lines are changed- only voice, only inflection. Yet, for me at least, it makes all the difference. No longer limited by some sort of Disneyish, Haunted House intonations, Dickens’ words still show Marley’s torment, but also now his frustration, his compassion, his love for his friend. Len talks about his ideas for the direction of this production, and suddenly the rest of the show falls into place. 

The theme, simply enough, is love. 

Our Scrooge will not be changed by his fear of the supernatural, his regret for the past, or even the shock of seeing his own, future tombstone; he will not be dragged to his redemption this night by any form of self-interest, but drawn to it by the unconditional love of those all around him. 

This is our take on this overdone story; this is our message to the audience.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: AN ACTOR'S PERSPECTIVE--PART I

(NOTE:  Zionsville Radio Players is currently in production of an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel A Christmas Carol.  The script was adapted by co-founder Susan McClelland, was directed by Len Mozzi, rehearsed in Oct. and Nov. and is now being recorded in two sessions at the WICR studios at the University of Indianapolis.  The following was written by actor Dr. Larry Adams, who plays the role of Jacob Marley.  It will be presented in three parts.)

PART I

“A Ghost Story of Christmas.”

That’s what Charles Dickens called it. An odd epithet for an odd story that, one hundred and seventy years later, we take for granted as a holiday classic- and which we all know better as A Christmas Carol.

As I look around the circle of actors tonight, the night of our first read-through rehearsal, I wonder how we can possibly breathe any new life into this old chestnut. The script is good, somehow managing to both condense and flesh out the story and its many characters. The actors, many of whom I’ve shared a staged with in the past, seem first rate. But still: it’s A Christmas Carol. Done and overdone in an endless parade of motion pictures, plays and parodies. What can the fledgling Zionsville Radio Players do, in only their second production, to make it fresh, entertaining- meaningful even- to a listening audience that has seen and heard it all before?

A Christmas Carol truly is an odd story, and oddly titled, being neither a carol nor, beyond the setting, a tale having much of anything to do with Christmas. There is no mention of a stable, shepherds watching their flocks by night, or a virgin birth- not even a Charlie Brown Christmas style reading of the Gospel. Despite his heavily supernatural overlay of ghosts and seemingly miraculous travels through space and time, Dickens presents a thoroughly secularized picture of Christmas in which to work his magic on Scrooge’s heart. Sweetest Day would have worked as well, I think; Halloween certainly better. So what is it that draws us to think of this story as a Christmas classic? Why the almost universal appeal at this time of the year?  

NO REST FOR THE WICKED

Well.

We did it.

In six months' time, Zionsville Radio Players went from concept to broadcast.

Whew.

We impress even me!

Our Halloween broadcast, aired on the night before Halloween, was a hit!

Many thanks to all hands who had a part in its inception, execution and product.

But, as we all know, there is no rest for the wicked.  And wicked we must be, since we are already well into getting our Christmas broadcast rehearsed and in the studio.

Susan McClelland has adapted Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol for radio.  We are working with a one-hour script that presents Mr. Scrooge and his transformation from crusty Christmas curmudgeon to

warm Wise Man, for he truly becomes a giving and loving presence in the lives of those who love him.

Rehearsals continue apace. First recording date is Saturday Nov. 16 in the studios of WICR.

Zionsville Radio Players are working to give you a Merry Christmas!