NPR Radio Theatre?

[Morton Miller]

All,

I asked for general info on this a couple of years ago, and thought I'd go ahead and ask again. Does anyone have any info or links reagarding National Public Radio's theatrical productions? I know around 1980 they were doing excellent work in this area, at least in the treatment of classical literature. For instance they did 5 one-hour programs dramatising "Moby Dick"; wonderful stuff, wonderful acting, wonderful music and sound effects . . . and all in stereo! (Unfortunately I only have episodes 1,2,4&5.)

Are there any forums, groups, blogs, fan clubs, links, etc. for NPR radio drama? Thanks ahead of time for any help in this area!

Morton

[omr]

... Does anyone have any info or links reagarding National Public Radio's theatrical productions?I don't know much about these public radio series, except what I can find by searching. Apologies for any errors. Perhaps someone familiar with these series might post more information or corrections.


Earplay was produced from 1971 to 1981.

You can read about Earplay in R. Davidson's book 9XM Talking: WHA Radio and the Wisconsin Idea, pages 187-188 (preview from Google Books): http://books.google.com/books?id=sRgY2hsSPkYC&pg=RA1-PA187&vq=earplay&dq=earplay&source=gbs_search_r&cad=0_1&sig=3F1GNv2c1-uMRDynYD-zjXDoVKc

IIUC, Earplay was created at WHA with funding from a grant to the Univ. of Wisconsin, and was later coproduced with Minnesota Public Radio. After the first few years, shows were recorded in other cities; primarily Minneapolis, sometimes New York or Los Angeles, with postproduction at WHA. Some shows were coproduced with or borrowed from the BBC and CBC. In addition to well-known actors, inexperienced and student actors were also heard. (Sources: 1976 news articles and Davidson's book.)

According to J. Dunning's On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio, the Earplay series initially aired "... playlets of five to ten minutes. Gradually the scope broadened until full hour-long dramas by top novelists and playwrights were presented." Dunning points to Edward Albee's Listening (aired in 1976) as Earplay's "breakthrough ... Other big names followed." Arthur Kopit's Wings (aired in 1979) became "arguably the most famous product of contemporary American radio theatre" (according to a 1999 article (http://www.natf.org/ioa.html) by S. Montague).


NPR Playhouse premiered in 1981 (with a popular adaptation of Star Wars). The two-decade run of NPR Playhouse ended in 2002.

NPR Playhouse productions were classified into four categories:
"Playhouse I" (Classics of world literature and drama),
"Playhouse II" (American Tales),
"Playhouse III" (Science fiction, Mystery, and Adventure), and
"Playhouse IV" (Open Stage / Contemporary Dramas).

Among the wide variety of sources NPRP drew from, just a few are listed here in no particular order: Independent Radio Drama Productions (http://www.irdp.co.uk) (UK), ZBS Foundation (http://www.zbs.org/catalog/), Radio Tales (http://home.comcast.net/%7Eradiotales/), Yuri Rasovski (http://www.irasov.com/future.htm), Radio Repertory Co. of America (http://www.rrca.com), L.A. Theatre Works (http://www.latw.org/), Joe Frank (http://www.joefrank.com/), California Artists Radio Theater (http://www.calartistsradiotheatre.org/), Globe Radio Repertory (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/archives/1987/8701020222.asp), CBC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall_%28CBC%29), BBC, short (http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9606/cfb.html) story submissions, etc.


I know around 1980 [Public Radio] were doing excellent work in this area, at least in the treatment of classical literature. For instance they did 5 one-hour programs dramatising "Moby Dick" ...That five-part Moby Dick was a production of Masterpiece Radio Theater, a 1979-80 WGBH/BBC series. MRT was funded by Mobil (which also funded the TV Masterpiece Theater). Julie Harris (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0364915/) hosted. MRT adapted at least eight literary classics, including a sixteen-part Les Miserables. The series also aired an original play (William Luce's portrait of Charlotte Brontë, later adapted for film and stage, starring Ms. Harris).


WNYC produced The Next Big Thing (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/) from 1999 to Jan. 2006. This variety series sometimes included fiction and drama segments. WNYC has (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/episodes/2003/08) partial archives. ... Remember the "Alamo (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/episodes/2004/09/10)"? ;-)


A current series worth checking out is Selected Shorts (http://www.symphonyspace.org/shorts/shorts_radio) (stories read by familiar actors).* This series, produced since 1985 (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E3D91639F935A35751C0A9639482 60&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all) by Symphony Space (http://www.symphonyspace.org/shorts/shorts_radio), was previously distributed by NPR, now PRI.
There is a podcast (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=9911210) but it has only a few of the most recent episodes.

* (Trivia for CBSRMT fans: Among actors who've read for Selected Shorts recently, at least four were heard on CBSRMT -- Tony Roberts, Paul Hecht, Marian Seldes, and Keir Dullea.)

-- omr

[Morton Miller]

Wow!! Thanks for all the info and for the time you must have put into looking all this up! Yes, many/most of the names, etc. ring true to me; Earplay, NPR Playhouse, Julie Harris, ZBS, and so on. I'll have to keep looking into this, particularly how many of the shows might actually be available.

Thanks so much once again for all your help!

Morton