Submitted by James Venturini.
Radio Activity presents vintage radio plays live on stage for the holidays.
Join our actors in the 1940s “radio studio” as they perform shows designed to pique the imagination, live on
microphone with live sound effects. The evening’s main event will be a late 1940s adaptation of the holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street; A second radio show, a Christmas episode of Father Knows Best, will be
performed as the evening’s first act, with vintage radio commercials sprinkled liberally throughout the shows.
Miracle on 34th Street and Other Gifts will perform on Friday, December 9 and Saturday December 10 at 7:30pm, and on Sunday December 11 at 2:00pm, at Tacoma’s Dukesbay Theater. Dukesbay is located in the Merlino Arts Center building at 508 S. 6th Avenue (around the corner from the Grand Cinema). Tickets are $20 each. Tickets are available through EventBrite at www.eventbrite.com/e/467993429947.
In Miracle on 34th Street, an older gentleman going by the name of Kris Kringle fills in for an intoxicated Santa in Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade and is such a hit that he is soon appearing regularly at the chain’s main store. When Kringle surprises everyone by claiming to actually be Santa Claus, it leads to a court case to determine the state of his mental health, his authenticity, and the meaning of these things to his lawyer and a woman and her daughter who have grown close to him.
Father Knows Best’s Christmas Episode, from 1953,is an outing typical of the Anderson Family’s adventures, made famous by the classic television program adapted form the original radio show. Jim, Margaret, and
children Bud, Betty, and Kathy get snowbound when trying to cut their own Christmas tree and encounter a nearby couple that helps them to better understand the meaning of the holiday.
Acting in this production are Christian Carvajal, Jimmy Gilletti, Joseph Grant, Simone Jolly, Otto Kelley, Nicole Lockett, Tim Samland, Ben Stahl, and Andrea Weston-Smart. The show is directed by James Venturini, who also provides the show’s live sound effects.
Radio Activity is the brainchild of James Venturini and Nicole Lockett, the creative team behind fourteen years of Radio Galas and other staged radio presentations previously presented at the Lakewood Playhouse.
James Venturini (Producer/Director/Sound Effects) has worked as an actor/director/writer/producer in theatre in the Seattle-Tacoma area since 1990. He was responsible for producing and directing Lakewood Playhouse’s
annual Radio Gala for fourteen years starting in 2008, and has been working with audio drama either on-stage or in recorded form for over forty years.
Nicole Lockett (Producer/Actor) has worked as an actor/director/choreographer/voice-over artist/producer in theatre and film in the Seattle-Tacoma area for the past 20+ years. She joined James starting in 2009 as an actor in the annual Radio Gala. During lockdown, she worked with James to transition them into popular monthly online performances, and is very excited to get to do them live, on-stage again!
CAST
Christian Carvajal, Jimmy Gilletti, Joseph Grant, Simone Jolly, Otto Kelley, Nicole Lockett, Tim Samland, Ben Stahl, and Andrea Weston-Smart, with live sound effects by James Venturini.
LOCATION
Dukesbay Theater
Merlino Arts Center
508 S. 6th Avenue #10
Tacoma WA 98402
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
- Friday, December 9 at 7:30pm
- Saturday, December 10 at 7:30pm
- Sunday, December 11 at 2:00pm
TICKETS
$20 per person. Tickets are available through EventBrite at www.eventbrite.com/e/467993429947
BOX OFFICE CONTACT/QUESTIONS
Email: james.venturini@gmail.com
