Durango Theatreworks Creates Radio Play Versions of Holiday Classics

Durango Theatreworks, a sponsored program of Fort Lewis College's Theatre Department, staged and recorded a radio play version of Charles Dickens' holiday classic, "A Christmas Carol." It ran from December 13th to December 17th at the FLC MainStage Theatre. You're watching the Local News Network, brought to you by The Payroll Department and Serious Texas BBQ. I'm Gillian Arnwine. "A Christmas Carol: A Radio Play" was directed by FLC professor and Theatreworks producer and artistic director Michael McKelvey. McKelvey started Durango Theatreworks nearly two years ago in an effort to expand the capacity and community involvement of Fort Lewis College's theatre programs. This will be the second year that the company has produced "A Christmas Carol" for the stage and the radio. After the Saturday night performance, the Christmas Carol cast members, along with director McKelvey, also performed a rollicking read through of a radio adaption of another Christmas favorite, the classic action film "Die Hard." While not recorded for radio, audience members were treated to a delightful spectacle of voice acting and creative sound effects.

The acting in radio theatre is unique in itself. Because it's mainly voice acting, because that's what actors did in the 1930s and '40s when they were on the radio. So they would play multiple characters within the same show, and they have to change their voice, the timbre of their voice, the inflection, everything to portray a different character.

Another interesting part of the making of a radio play is the Foley work, or the creation of all the sounds the audience hears along with the voices of the actors.

It's making the sound effects that you would find in a movie or one of these radio plays or television show. And again, that's a vital part of movie making, and it has been since the inception of sound film. For "Christmas Carol," we have a wind sound effect, which is created by a special wind machine that was made, that entails a crank and a turnstile and butcher paper. We have a chime that signifies the clock. We have scratching of plates, we have footsteps, we actually have a footstep board that helps to amplify the footsteps. So we do it live on stage.

The four Foley artists, who also serve as Christmas carolers, are joined by six other local actors, who voice a combined 24 characters. Ebenezer Scrooge is played by Matt Bodo.

"Christmas Carol" is definitely more of, it's an event. It's not theatre, it's not real, I mean, it's kind of staged as a radio play but when you look out into the audience, it's kids and families, they're dressed up, it's more of an event. So it's different from doing anything that's like a regular traditional play, and that's the excitement of it. And then it's just about going out there and enjoying Scrooge and taking the journey with him.

One of the cool things with "Christmas Carol" is we had all these great sponsors that came along. And part of our sponsorship for this particular play, since it is a live performed play and we can add different content, we wrote radio commercials in the style or what I think would be the style of a 1940s commercial. ♪ It's the Durango Choo Choo Silverton Railway Train ♪

So we wrote special radio spots for all those businesses using "Christmas Carol" characters within them, and they're part of the show. ♪ Nature sing ♪ ♪ And heaven and nature sing ♪

If you missed the live stage version of "A Christmas Carol," it will be broadcast on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on numerous radio stations in the Four Corners. Be sure to tune in to hear the iconic story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his Christmas redemption. Follow Durango Theatreworks on Facebook and Instagram for more details.

For more information about this and other stories, visit durangolocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Network. I'm Gillian Arnwine.