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Classic Radio Road Show is Going to Italy! (with your help!)
Duomo di Orvieto
Hello friends,
Classic Radio Road Show is proud to be co-producing a play in October 2024 in Orvieto, Italy in conjunction with Teatro Kamina. Our artistic director Duane Noch will be in the cast of “Colloquia,” a two person play by David Zarko based on true events that took place in Umbria, Italy in 1944.
We are raising money to cover the production costs, and humbly ask for your support. A contribution of any size in US Dollars or Euros to Classic Radio Road Show, Inc. is greatly appreciated, and may be made using this link.
For more information about the play and this event, please see below.
Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming NJ performances!
It is the waning days of the Second World War. Allied forces are bombing targets in Italy. The retreating German army enacts a scorched earth policy. In the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto, its Italian bishop and the German commandant grapple with the grim realities the war’s conclusion brings to daily life. The city’s artistic and historic heritage are on the brink of annihilation. Cherished beliefs are thrown into doubt; shifting loyalties, changing ideals. The two men clash over their differences throughout the winter and spring of 1944, but when they discover a shared admiration for Bach, it inspires them to create a way to save Orvieto.
Colloquia (conversations between enemies) by David Zarko.
This June, a slate of events celebrates the 80th anniversary of Orvieto Città Aperta and it culminates with productions of Colloquia, in English and Italian. Classic Radio Road Show has been invited to bring its English language production of this powerful play to Teatro Kamina in Orvieto, Italy and to be one of the events commemorating the anniversary of the Open City declaration of 1944 that spared Orvieto from bombardment.
We hope you will consider making a contribution in any amount to help take up this extraordinary opportunity.
To support Colloquia with dollars, please click here ~ and thank you in advance!
These are images of the Orvieto Duomo, where we will be performing "Colloquia" on October 24, 25 and 26 in Umbria, Italy.
Our 2024 Season Continues on October 30 at 7pm!
"Knock at the Door"
a live Zoom performance!
October 30th at 7pm
This episode was part of the radio series called "Lights Out", written and hosted by Arch Oobler. The original air date was March 2, 1938. This is a chilling tale of love, murder, insanity and retribution! Email us here to get a Zoom invitation to listen! The cast will include Gwen Ricks-Spenser, Laurie Noch and Duane Noch.
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Thank you to the casts and audiences that brought "The Thin man" and Richard Diamond, Private Detective" to life at Middletown Arts Center and Cross of Glory Lutheran Church on Sept. 14 and 15!
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It's a Wonderful Life, radio play
December 5 at 3pm
Monmouth Public Library, Marlboro Branch
December 7 at 3pm
East Jersey Olde Town Village in Piscataway, NJ
December 11 at 3pm
Monmouth County Public Library, Monroe Branch
Featuring all new commercials by Anthony Aversano!
Radio Theater -
A safe space for audience and actors alike
~ by Laurie Noch
Safe space. The term refers to a place where people are encouraged to freely share their thoughts and ideas without fear of harassment or persecution. This term originated in the 1960s related to the women’s movement and LGBTQ+ community but can be applied to additional situations. As an educator and psychologist, I work to create a safe space for my students to know they are accepted and important. Mental health settings work to create an atmosphere where clients can trust in the person they are talking to and in the process of healing. Many places desire to create a climate that fosters openness to be our true selves without fear of physical or psychological harm. What a wonderful concept to value and invest in - a place we feel safe to be ourselves, without being judged!
I believe that theater strives to offer a sanctuary to all involved - a place where for 1 to 3 hours one can be open to the story of something outside of their own experience. We can let go of our life and join in the storytelling of another world, another person. We can let go of the story that is ours and enter into the life being born on stage. We are offered the opportunity to grow along with the characters - to risk, err, feel, struggle and in the end, be a different and better person. The set or backdrop of the story may be fantastical or from a different time period or culture, but we are welcomed to join the experience. After the applause and curtains close, there is something about being open to their story that quietly impacts our own.
At Classic Radio Road Show we share stories from a time period around 75 years ago. It was a different time then. While the backdrop of time impacts the stories told, the stories are rich in the exploration of life - from comedies where we shed our own troubles and ride the foibles and missteps that gift us laughter at all of our humanness, to dramas of suspense which beckon us into the mystery where we look for clues in making sense of the strange and unexplainable. Within various genres of radio plays, listeners can immerse themselves in the story. As actors paint the picture of the world we are about to experience, listeners can enter and connect with the characters and situations. Listeners can feel the playfulness and laugh, feel the suspense and hold their breath. We can give ourselves permission to safely feel as we connect to the unfolding story.
Listeners are not the only ones inhabiting this safe space in the theater experience. The actors, writer, director, and foley artist become the storytellers and share in this space of openness. From the moment Classic Radio Road Show’s director and actor Duane Noch begins the script selection process, he enters into their stories. When he casts the selected plays, actors take their first steps into the story. With each rehearsal, the story comes to life with fallible and lovable characters. All are invited to be vulnerable and create, relate and take chances. When the story is finally shared during the performance, there is joy in that vulnerable space of the storytelling. For fleeting moments, listeners and performers are woven together in that living story.