SAG-AFTRA

Winter 2013

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"here's something about walking that tightrope and knowing you could get away with it," said Barry Stoltze, SAG-AFTRA National Board member. Stoltze started the Atlanta Bi-Union Radio Players in 2004, and has been involved ever since. During that time, the radio plays have served as a showcase for union talent while raising thousands of dollars for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Just because the stories lack visual pizazz doesn't mean radio plays are a lesser form of entertainment — they are just a different way of telling a story. "he human imagination — what you can create in your mind — is much more powerful, much more meaningful than anything that can be done for you. hey say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'm not sure I agree with that," Stoltze said. hat's part of why these productions are such a great opportunity for members. It's a chance for them to perform in a new way, painting the audience a picture using only their voice. And how you look doesn't matter. "I am not confined on radio to playing an 82-year-old woman. I can do a child, I can do a parrot, I can play a young woman in her 20s in love," Ivey said. "No matter what you look like, you can be anybody. hat's the fun of it," adds Connie Foster, who serves as co-chair of the SAG-AFTRA Seniors Committee of the Chicago Local, and helps organize the Radio Players (formerly the Senior Radio Players). "If you can read, if you can get up on stage and if you can create a character, you can do it." Foster also works on Unshackled, history's longest-running radio drama, which has been produced since 1950. In 2009, David Westberg founded a radio plays group in Los Angeles. he group, SAG-AFTRA Radio Plays, draws in a diversity of talent from members across the media spectrum, including actors, broadcasters and many who have no experience with radio plays. "It's a melding of the whole artistry [of SAG-AFTRA]," Westberg said. he heyday of radio plays was a 56 SAG-AFTRA | Winter 2013 | SAGAFTRA.org relatively short one, from the late 1930s through the '40s, before television began to woo its audience in the '50s. Still, though the golden days of radio plays may be past, the art form lives on in different forms, such as Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion (a legacy AFTRA signatory production), dramas produced by the BBC and online, where some of the original programs can still be enjoyed. Listeners who attend the live radio plays are treated to a great story and fun time, but for member-performers, the experience is extra special. Margaret A. Flannigan, who creates sound effects for the New York City's Old Tyme Radio Players said she connects with the audience during a performance. "It's just a delight to read the old time radio plays for the audience, some of whom are new to this material and many who either performed it or heard it when it was first being played," said Flannigan. If you'd like to attend or perform in a radio play, check your local page on SAGAFTRA.org to see if any productions are happening in your area or contact your local board and offer to start your own radio play community. Above, on Oct. 22, the Bi-Union Radio Players of Atlanta performed Lend Me an Ear: A Comedy Potpourri, leaving the audience in stitches and raising more than $1,900 for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Left, Don Stroup performs in Easy Aces on July 31. The show was part of a double feature put on by the SAG-AFTRA Chicago Radio Players that included The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy. Pete Steinberg Caran Wilbanks

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