Radio Theatre and Audio

Agatha Christie and the BBC Murders (2009-2010)

Based on four little known radio plays and autobiographical materials written by Agatha Christie between 1936 and 1954, the Otherworld team of Ossman and Walcutt have created a theatrical entertainment which blends the techniques of screen acting, voice-over, sound design, and live theatre into a 21st Century performance medium. Originally adapted for live radio performance for the International Mystery Writer’s Festival and broadcast by WNIN in 2009, the show was subsequently (Summer, 2010) produced for surround sound technology, while using screen projection, fashion, and portable stage craft to create a touring show for black box theaters. Original cast featured Melinda Peterson, Phil Proctor, Gary Sandy, and Amy Walker. In association with RiverPark Center.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2000-2001)

A Centennial Celebration presented by The Children’s Museum of Los Angeles. With Harry Anderson, Rene Auberjonois, Annette Bening, Phyllis Diller, Joanna Gleason, John Goodman, Robert Guillaume, Mark Hamill, Maurice La Marche, Michael Learned, Mako, Phil Proctor, Nestor Serrano and Michelle Trachtenberg. Afterword by Ray Bradbury. Unabridged, fully produced audio adaptation, winner of the Gold Medal Parents’ Choice Award and the Golden Headset Award. Distributed to public radio stations nationwide by Public Radio International. (4 hours)

An Ursula K. Le Guin Double Bill (1993)

With Betty Garrett virtually solo in an original audio play, “The Phoenix,” and Ms. Le Guin reading her own “Introducing Myself.”

Which Way’s Witch? A June Foray Hallowe’en Spell (1991)

An hour-long family radio comedy written by Ellen Kushner and Judith Walcutt especially for the great voice artist June Foray (aka Rocket J. Squirrel of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame as well as many other well-known voice roles). The Halloween adventure is based on international folk-tales and features authentic musical instruments and an original score. Winner of Gold and Bronze Medals at the New York International Radio Festival, the NFCB Golden Reel for Best National Drama, a Silver Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a Major Armstrong Award for Creative Use of the Medium. (1 hour)

Midwest Radio Theatre Workshop 10th Anniversary (1989)

Live theatrical broadcast produced by Judith Walcutt, including a production of Norman Corwin’s “The Odyssey of Runyon Jones” directed by David Ossman. Winner of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Gold Medal. (2 hours)

The Red Badge of Courage (1985)

Steven Crane’s novel of the Civil War in a two-hour, four-part adaptation by David Ossman, utilizing authentic period military effects, extensive location recording and a large cast of Boston-area actors featuring a stylish and sensitive performance by John Hickok as the Youth, narration spoken by David Ossman and an original score by John Adams. Produced for the WGBH series “The Web: Young People’s Radio Theatre” (4 half-hours).

The International Mystery Writer’s Festival (2007-2009)

Otherworld Media is contracted annually by RiverPark Center for the Performing Arts in Owensboro, Kentucky to produce live radio theatre performances of new works written for stage, screen, and television in the mystery and thriller genre. Over twenty-five hours of program material contained in twenty-eight individual scripts, have been produced. Six shows have been released for broadcast on public radio stations, under the title of “Discovering New Mysteries,” with celebrated star of stage and screen Angela Lansbury, as series host. Five of the shows are available on CD. (www.riverparkcenter.org or www.newmysteries.org).

Raymond Chandler’s “Goldfish” (1994-1995)

The first Philip Marlowe short story, recorded, in a gritty, “radio noir” style, entirely on location in the Pacific Northwest where Chandler originally set it. Harris Yulin stars as Marlowe with Harry Anderson as the lethal bad-guy “Sunset.” With an outstanding cast of Seattle actors including Peggy O’Connel, David MacIntyre, John Gilbert and Kevin O’Morrison and an original blues score, featuring Janie Cribbs’ torchy “My Lonely Love Affair.” (1 hour)

Gish Jen’s “The Water Faucet Vision” (1993)

With Rosalind Chao and full cast in an adaptation of Jen’s short story by D. Roberts.
Both programs funded by the National Endowment for the Arts as a pilot for a series devoted to women writers. (2 half-hours)

“The Use of Force” & “The Best Interests of the Child” (1990)

Short stories by William Carlos Williams and Norvall Morris adapted and produced for “The Heart of the Story,” part of the William Benton Broadcast Project at University of Chicago. National Educational Association prize-winner. With Hector Elizondo, solo, in the Williams story and an international cast from CBC, Vancouver, in the Morris story, set in Burma and featuring a fictional George Orwell. (2 half-hours)

The War of the Worlds 50th Anniversary Production (1988)

GRAMMY-nominated for Best Spoken Word production, digital sound design by Oscar-winner Randy Thom at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, an international broadcast event, this contemporary NPR/CNN version of the Orson Welles classic stars Jason Robards with Hector Elizondo, Steve Allen, CBS newsman Douglas Edwards and public radio personalities Scott Simon and Terry Gross, among others. (1 hour)

Live from the Islands (2003-2005)

A series of music, culture, and entertainment programs broadcast live and on-location from Whidbey Island, Seattle, Kauai, and Maui. 32 hours of program material produced and broadcast on community and public radio stations in the Northwest, Hawaii, and nationwide on the Public Radio Satellite System. Live broadcast events included: Live from Choochokum: Festival of the Stars from Langley Washington, 2003 and 2004, Live from DjangoFest Northwest, 2003, Live from the Hawaiian Slack-key Guitar Festival, Kauai, 2004, Live from the Northwest Regional Folklife Festival, 2005, Live from the Whidbey Island Writer’s Festival, 2004, Live from The Burning Word Poetry Festival, 2004, Live from Masters of the Slack-Key Guitar Concert Series, Maui, 2005.

Norman Corwin’s “We Hold These Truths” (1990-1991)

An entirely new production of Corwin’s history-making 1941 broadcast honoring the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights. Forty celebrated performers include James Earl Jones, Richard Dysart, Esther Rolle, Lloyd Bridges, Tom Bosley, John Ireland, Fess Parker, Jesse White, Studs Turkel. Score by Libby Larsen. Winner of the A.B.A.’s Silver Gavel, three Gold Medals at the N. Y. International Radio Festival and the CPB Silver Medal. (1 hour)

Empire of the Air — The Men Who Made Radio (1991-1992)

The epic history of early broadcasting and the tragic interactions of the lives of three men: inventors Edwin Armstrong (David Ogden-Stiers) and Lee de Forest (John Randolph) and NBC mogul David Sarnoff (Harris Yulin). Narrated by Steve Allen, with Bonnie Bedelia, Jayne Meadows, John Astin, Ed Asner, Gary Owens and Harry Shearer heading a cast of thirty-five. Ken Burns’ 1992 documentary film was based on the same Tom Lewis book as this dramatic adaptation. A General Motors “Mark of Excellence” production. (3 half-hours)

The Door in the Wall (1989)

Margurite de Angeli’s Newberry Award-winning novel, set in Medieval England, in a three-part adaptation largely recorded on location in and near Philadelphia. A stirring adventure in which a disabled youth, Robin, saves Castle Lindsay, helped by a Minstrel and a Monk. Narrated by Colleen Dewhurst, supported by an original score for ancient instruments. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Winner of two Silver Medals at the New York International Radio Festival and two Silver Awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (3 half-hours)

Radio Movies (1986-1988)

A series of twelve two-hour audio theatre productions produced for WGBH, Boston, conceived and produced by David Ossman and Judith Walcutt, including original radio productions in association with the American Repertory Theater of Cambridge, “Jacques and His Master,” a comedy by Milan Kundera with Tom Derrah and Robert Drivas, “Orchids in the Moonlight” by Carlos Fuentes with Carmen deLavellade and Liliane Montevecchi. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.