Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11A Family Affair
Audio With External Links Item Preview
A Family Affair
A radio play for the stage, with music and some singing.
I have not had the opportunity to get this play on stage, and so I am making the script and the music (as well as sheet music) available for any interested parties that may want to stage it. I would appreciate hearing from you if you do manage to bring the play to the stage.
Please be aware that the license specified is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Should you desire to put on a commercial stage production of this work, you must get in contact with the author at: words_and_music[at]dannyantonelli.eu
In this play, because of its nature, there are lots of people on stage all the time. It is important to avoid cluttering the stage. Activity is necessary, but it shouldn’t get too hectic – except when hectic is needed for a comic effect. So it would perhaps be good to avoid also having “real” technical crew on stage.
Although the radio players have scripts to read from, they should not bury their noses in them while they read the radio play. Marty, for one, usually memorizes his lines. He needs to glance at the new script from time to time perhaps, but that’s all. He can “show off” by sticking the script in his pocket sometimes, etc. The others also needn’t be chained to their scripts. While they’re not reading, they can leave their scripts somewhere, lose them, look over someone else’s shoulder, etc. etc. so that the script doesn’t become the focus of attention, the actor does. The presence of the documentary film crew should help in so far that the actors not only read their parts but “act” them as well for the camera. But the crew shouldn’t just film the actors who are reading.
The documentary crew should be used as an element that brings activity and at times confusion to the proceedings. No specific stage directions for them have been given, but they are always there and of course the radio players react to the presence of the camera and “ham it up” from time to time, thus also making mistakes or creating absurdities. Physical flirting by the docu crew with the male or female radio players should not be excluded as a possibility.
Ari is both the animator and the sound tech. In her role as animator she must have the qualities and attitude of a stand-up comic. She must be able to judge the mood of the audience, and if they are not reacting to every joke, be able to improvise a little and perhaps reach quickly for a “live” sound or touch the right key and insert the sound she needs – laughter, applause, etc. in order to “instruct” the audience.
Ari as sound tech has her table and keyboard at stage left, on the lip in front of the proscenium. On her effects table she should have a lighter, paper, and other little sound-makers at her disposal to create “live” sounds over a microphone. She also has a script stand. There will be prerecorded sounds available at the touch of a key, but the more Ari can do live, the better. The keyboard and effects mike can have their own amplifier, thus maintaining independence from the theater tech system. The keyboard can easily be switched to a piano sound and the the radio show song in Scene One as well as the song at the end of the play can be sung live and accompanied by live piano playing. This will enhance the ensemble effect considerably.
Lucy Saváge, the director, stands at stage right, on the lip in front of the proscenium, out of the way of the main action. She has a music stand with a script notebook on it. The stand should not be bulky.
Other props should be kept to a minimum. One microphone pointing at the audience, an ambiance mike which is not functional. On stage perhaps some stools for the actors to perch on if necessary. A stand to hold a script for actors could be a prop, but it shouldn’t take away the possibility of free movement. Remember, the actors have mikes that are cordless, so they can move without restriction.
A small transmitter set attached to actors’ belts could be visible if desired to make the cordless mikes more realistic. It would perhaps be better to avoid walls and glass panels and all such cumbersome scenery. A sound studio is usually pretty bare, except for the sound-proofing material on the walls. This could easily be simulated through the use of tromp d’oeil backdrops that can be rapidly unrolled before the show and rapidly rolled up after the show. Curtains or bare walls are just as acceptable. The IBC EYE logo can feature prominently, and of course the red recording light should be where the audience can clearly see it when it’s ON. The light could be shaped like the IBC EYE logo, for extra effect.
Crew wear IBC EYE logo t-shirts (various colors) and IBC EYE logo caps (optional). Ari and Lucy have standard cordless headphones with microphones. Radio players have modern transparent cordless head microphones with flesh-colored earphone that they can take off or hang around their necks during the breaks. The microphones don’t need to be functional.
[Actors must be able to p r o j e c t their voices without microphones!]
There is no sound-check written into the script. If the microphones the actors wear aren’t functional then a sound check won’t play very well. Let’s just pretend the sound-check already took place. Although a few sound-check-like effects could emanate from behind the curtain while Ari is doing her warm-up routine with the audience.
Timing is always important of course, but in this play there are lines that need to have beats between the lead-in and the punch line so that the punch has the desired effect. Some of these beats have been written into the script. Body language (a sudden freeze during a beat, or a drop of the shoulders, a lean of the head) should support the punch line not distract from it. And direct interaction with the audience is allowed. All the actors KNOW the audience is there. And the audience can know the actors know.
The more rapidly the radio play in Scene Two goes, the better the effect will be. We have literally “cut to the chase” and so the pace should be in that spirit. In the “new” version, after the transition music, the pace can slow to match the new mood of the radio play.
Singing is not obligatory for everyone, but it would be appropriate if the leading characters could sing a line or two of the song at the end, each character taking a line so that the pairs can once again interplay with each other. Everybody should then join in for the long chorus at the end.
©2013-2015 Danny Antonelli
A radio play for the stage, with music and some singing.
I have not had the opportunity to get this play on stage, and so I am making the script and the music (as well as sheet music) available for any interested parties that may want to stage it. I would appreciate hearing from you if you do manage to bring the play to the stage.
Please be aware that the license specified is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Should you desire to put on a commercial stage production of this work, you must get in contact with the author at: words_and_music[at]dannyantonelli.eu
In this play, because of its nature, there are lots of people on stage all the time. It is important to avoid cluttering the stage. Activity is necessary, but it shouldn’t get too hectic – except when hectic is needed for a comic effect. So it would perhaps be good to avoid also having “real” technical crew on stage.
Although the radio players have scripts to read from, they should not bury their noses in them while they read the radio play. Marty, for one, usually memorizes his lines. He needs to glance at the new script from time to time perhaps, but that’s all. He can “show off” by sticking the script in his pocket sometimes, etc. The others also needn’t be chained to their scripts. While they’re not reading, they can leave their scripts somewhere, lose them, look over someone else’s shoulder, etc. etc. so that the script doesn’t become the focus of attention, the actor does. The presence of the documentary film crew should help in so far that the actors not only read their parts but “act” them as well for the camera. But the crew shouldn’t just film the actors who are reading.
The documentary crew should be used as an element that brings activity and at times confusion to the proceedings. No specific stage directions for them have been given, but they are always there and of course the radio players react to the presence of the camera and “ham it up” from time to time, thus also making mistakes or creating absurdities. Physical flirting by the docu crew with the male or female radio players should not be excluded as a possibility.
Ari is both the animator and the sound tech. In her role as animator she must have the qualities and attitude of a stand-up comic. She must be able to judge the mood of the audience, and if they are not reacting to every joke, be able to improvise a little and perhaps reach quickly for a “live” sound or touch the right key and insert the sound she needs – laughter, applause, etc. in order to “instruct” the audience.
Ari as sound tech has her table and keyboard at stage left, on the lip in front of the proscenium. On her effects table she should have a lighter, paper, and other little sound-makers at her disposal to create “live” sounds over a microphone. She also has a script stand. There will be prerecorded sounds available at the touch of a key, but the more Ari can do live, the better. The keyboard and effects mike can have their own amplifier, thus maintaining independence from the theater tech system. The keyboard can easily be switched to a piano sound and the the radio show song in Scene One as well as the song at the end of the play can be sung live and accompanied by live piano playing. This will enhance the ensemble effect considerably.
Lucy Saváge, the director, stands at stage right, on the lip in front of the proscenium, out of the way of the main action. She has a music stand with a script notebook on it. The stand should not be bulky.
Other props should be kept to a minimum. One microphone pointing at the audience, an ambiance mike which is not functional. On stage perhaps some stools for the actors to perch on if necessary. A stand to hold a script for actors could be a prop, but it shouldn’t take away the possibility of free movement. Remember, the actors have mikes that are cordless, so they can move without restriction.
A small transmitter set attached to actors’ belts could be visible if desired to make the cordless mikes more realistic. It would perhaps be better to avoid walls and glass panels and all such cumbersome scenery. A sound studio is usually pretty bare, except for the sound-proofing material on the walls. This could easily be simulated through the use of tromp d’oeil backdrops that can be rapidly unrolled before the show and rapidly rolled up after the show. Curtains or bare walls are just as acceptable. The IBC EYE logo can feature prominently, and of course the red recording light should be where the audience can clearly see it when it’s ON. The light could be shaped like the IBC EYE logo, for extra effect.
Crew wear IBC EYE logo t-shirts (various colors) and IBC EYE logo caps (optional). Ari and Lucy have standard cordless headphones with microphones. Radio players have modern transparent cordless head microphones with flesh-colored earphone that they can take off or hang around their necks during the breaks. The microphones don’t need to be functional.
[Actors must be able to p r o j e c t their voices without microphones!]
There is no sound-check written into the script. If the microphones the actors wear aren’t functional then a sound check won’t play very well. Let’s just pretend the sound-check already took place. Although a few sound-check-like effects could emanate from behind the curtain while Ari is doing her warm-up routine with the audience.
Timing is always important of course, but in this play there are lines that need to have beats between the lead-in and the punch line so that the punch has the desired effect. Some of these beats have been written into the script. Body language (a sudden freeze during a beat, or a drop of the shoulders, a lean of the head) should support the punch line not distract from it. And direct interaction with the audience is allowed. All the actors KNOW the audience is there. And the audience can know the actors know.
The more rapidly the radio play in Scene Two goes, the better the effect will be. We have literally “cut to the chase” and so the pace should be in that spirit. In the “new” version, after the transition music, the pace can slow to match the new mood of the radio play.
Singing is not obligatory for everyone, but it would be appropriate if the leading characters could sing a line or two of the song at the end, each character taking a line so that the pairs can once again interplay with each other. Everybody should then join in for the long chorus at the end.
©2013-2015 Danny Antonelli
Reviews
There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to
write a review.
