Willamette Radio Workshop on the air!

“A Radio Christmas Carol” is scheduled for broadcast tonight on KXRY-FM (Vancouver), KXRY-FM (XRAY, Portland), KUIK-AM (Portland), and an unknown station along the Oregon Coast (Rockaway Beach, Manzanita, etc) TONIGHT at 6:00 PM.

 

It may be rebroadcast tomorrow on KXRW-FM in Vancouver.

 

We hope you can catch the broadcast and may it haunt your Christmas celebrations pleasantly.

 

SamA

No Live Halloween show this year.

Hello folks. Sorry to announce that on our 20th anniversary we will have no live show at the Kennedy school. Damn this pandemic. Hopefully other shows will be performed in our 20th season, but at this time, nothing is is planned.

I hope to popst a vintage WRW show on Halloween day to lend our touch to your festivities. I hope you all find a safe and happy way to spend one of our favorite holidays.

Until next time, we remain obediently yours.

Sam A Mowry
Director of the Willamette Radio Workshop.

WRW Re-Joins Reimagined Radio for terrestrial Broadcast July 19th

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Re-Imagined Radio, produced by John Barber of WSU Vancouver’s Creative Media and Digital Culture Program, will present two short radio dramas in July. “Hiro & Liling” is an original love story by Portland writer Kristina Jones, and “The Martian Death March” by Ernest Kinoy for X-1, first broadcast in 1951.

The two stories make up an hour-long episode that will air at noon July 19 on two local radio stations: Vancouver’s KXRW-FM (99.9 FM) and Portland’s KXRY-FM (91.1 FM or 107.1 FM). Rebroadcasts will be offered by Portland’s KUIK-AM (1360 AM), Salem’s KMWV-FM (98.3 FM), and CKXU (88.3 FM), Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, which in turn distributes Re-Imagined Radio across Canada. The performance will also be available online via the stations’ websites and will be archived at reimaginedradio.net.

The Workshop is excited to rejoin with the Re-Imagined Radio Project for this series of broadcast shows. We look forward to more. exciting radio to come. Martian Death March was recorded in a new platform, Riverside, which allowed all our actors to record with each other from their home studios with live Foley and SFX. We look forward to improving our use of this new technology and keeping our cast, crew and audience as safe as possible. It’s a brave new world and we will continue making audio dramas in it. Thanks for your support and patience. Hiro and Liling was recorded at the Willamette Radio Workshop studio, pre-pandemic.

HIRO and LILING

Hiro & Liling is inspired by Japanese folklore, this original love story by Kristina Armetta unfolds as an old man teaches his grandchild the legend of an ancient rock formation. In Armetta’s simple, lyrical language the grandfather traces the relationship between a war-hardened Japanese General and a young Chinese girl orphaned by his troops. At once poignant and hopeful, potent and reflective, the piece represents some of the best work to come out of WRW’s 2004 Writers On-the-air Workshop.

CAST AND CREW

Chris Porter, Laura Faye Smith, Janet Penner, Genevieve Winters, David Loftus, Atticus Welles Mowry and Sam A. Mowry.

Written by Kristina Jones

Original Music by Peter Armetta

Recorded by Robert Kowal

The Writers on the Air Workshop was created and directed by Cynthia McGean

Produced and directed by Sam A. Mowry

 

 

X MINUS ONE- THE MARTIAN DEATH MARCH

“The Martian Death March” an original radio drama from one of our favorites and a true master of the genre, Ernest Kinoy. This X-Minus One adventure is the story of man’s inhumanity to Martians. An allegory of the westward expansion and the mistreatment of the native Americans.  A man who was a boy at the time tells the story of the death march of the Martians in 1997. He tells the tale of how the spider-beings have escaped from the reservations and are making their way home to the mountains lead by an earthman. Perhaps looking at this story through the prism of the future on another planet, we can see our own inhumanity a little clearer right here on Earth. And perhaps learn the lesson we still seem to be forgetting, or ignoring.

CAST AND CREW

ANNOUNCER: Christopher Hart

NARRATOR: Sam A. Mowry

AL: Karyn O’Bryant

MOM: Patt Blem

JOHN: Scott Jamieson

MARTIAN: Todd Tolces

MINER: David Ian

CAPTAIN: David Ian

SERGEANT: Christopher Hart

SFX and Music: Marc Rose

Engineer and Consultant: Martin John Gallagher

Foley: David Ian and Dino de AElfweald

Cynthia McGean Dramaturg

Produced and directed by Sam A. Mowry

Radio Carol broadcast on KBOO Christmas day at 11am PST 90.7fm

Willamette Radio Workshop’s Radio Christmas Carol will be broadcast on “Mr. Jones’s Neighborhood” with Ken Jones, on KBOO this Friday the 25th at 11am PST 90.7fm. And streaming from: https://kboo.fm/listen-kboo-online

From our original presentation: “For many years, members of the Willamette Radio Workshop have given special performances of “A Christmas Carol” for audiences around the Portland metro area who might not otherwise have had any holiday entertainment.  We took this tradition to the next level with a live performance, open to the public, to benefit our local Food Bank. We are very excited to now be able to share it with the whole state. We also ask that if you have the resources, that you continue to support the food banks in your area, all year round.

This “live radio” performance of “A Christmas Carol,” was adapted by Cynthia J. McGean from the Charles Dickens story and the Campbell Playhouse version. The show was recorded at First Christian Church in Portland, Oregon in front of a live audience.  While admission was free, we asked for the donation of two cans of non-perishable food per person or an appropriate cash donation to the Food Bank.  Envelopes were  available for cash donations.

The cast for this performance included Tim McKennie, James Dineen, Greg Alexander, Alan King, Cynthia McGean, Renee Boutin King, Mary Thomas and Sam A. Mowry. Live music and carols  provided by The Holly Jolly Radio Choir, directed by Bennett Bailey and featuring over twenty singers!

Recorded and Mastered by D. Neil Blake.

Merry Christmas to you all and the happiest of New Years” A giant wish for our Pandemic Times.

Happy National Audio Drama Day! The Fave 5!

This year to celebrate National Audio Drama Day, October 30th, the broadcast date for Orson Welles Panic Broadcast “War of the Worlds” we decided to pull our favorite short clip from our extensive library. We put out the word and hopefully we’ll have some kick butt examples of our mediums finest work. I am posting 2 I know that sounds like cheating, but hey, this is just for fun.) One clip from our Fall of the City by Archibald MacLeish and Our Livewire Performance of The Island of Dr. Moreau by Cynthia McGean.

Here is the Fall of the City Link:

 

 

And here is the Dr. Moreau:

 

And here is our very own  Professor Zeitgeist original Halloween contribution. I’ll try to link to everything that shows up on the web and Facebook as the day progresses.

 

 

From Fred Greenhalgh, very spooky music.  Listen to So Many Regrets (The night is darkest before the Dawn) // The Dark Tome by Peter Van Riet on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/RN7U

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hobbits Greatest Hits! January 11th @ 3pm!

Happy Birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien!
featuring
Willamette Radio Workshop presents: The Hobbits Greatest Hits
Free
All ages welcome

Elves, wizards, orcs and all others are invited to join in this all-day celebration of J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the 20th Century’s most influential authors. We’ll have live music, The Lord of the Rings on the big screen, Willamette Radio Workshop performing live, a costume contest, Hobbit-inspired food specials and more!

Schedule
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Follow Frodo through the epic series – in the Theater, 11 a.m. ‘til late

Willamette Radio Workshop
Live radio, performing “Hobbit’s Greatest Hits” – in the Gym, 3 p.m. & 5 p.m.

Costume Contest
Wear your beastly best – in the Gym, 4:30 p.m.

Garcia Birthday Band – in the Gym, 7 p.m. ‘til 10 p.m.

Come join the Willamette Radio Workshop as we make another journey to Middle-earth with “The Hobbit’s Greatest Hits” our one-of-a-kind adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic suitable for all ages. We start at the beginning and end at the end, but in between, the audience chooses what order we tell the story (by picking numbers from the proverbial hat). The show is broken into two parts at 3pm and 5pm. The performance is set for Saturday, January 13th, at the McMenamin’s Kennedy School (5736 N.E. 33rd Ave.Portland, OR 97211), part of the annual J.R.R. Tolkien Birthday Celebration.
 
The costume contest is always a highlight and this year will be no different. Bring your finest Middle Earth inspired creations and join in the fun. Come on your own or bring a crew of your favorite characters for back up. The contest will start at 4:30, sign up with Jamie and Joe at the swag table, prizes will be awarded, laughter and merriment usually ensues.
 
The performance is absolutely free, but remember: when you come to Middle-earth, you too may be called into service! We need your voices for the battle of the Five Armies and elsewhere , don’t worry, it won’t be 2 and a half hours long.Photo_012106_001[1]
 
Our cast and crew include, but are not limited to,  Scott JamiesonDavid IanDino DeaelfwealdCindy McGean, Atticus Mowry, David Loftus, Christopher HartJoe Medina, Jamie Lawson and Sam A. Mowry. Special thanks to Martin John Gallagher and Marc Rose for their sonic enhancements. 
 
Come grab a beer and some pizza and enjoy the unique experience of live radio and the timeless tale of The Hobbit.
 
“May the hair on your toes never fall out!”

About J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (born January 3, 1892, died September 2, 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Merton College, Oxford, from 1945 to 1959. He was at one time a close friend of C.S. Lewis – they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972.

After Tolkien’s death, his son Christopher published a series of works based on his father’s extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. These, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about a fantasy world called Arda, and Middle-Earth within it. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the term “legendarium” to the larger part of these writings. While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the “father” of modern fantasy literature – or, more precisely, of high fantasy.

In 2008, The Times of London ranked him sixth on a list of “The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945.” In 2009 Forbes ranked him the 5th top-earning deceased celebrity.

Award winning Frankenstein at Kennedy School for Halloween!

WHAT: Willamette Radio Workshop presents an original adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for two live shows at McMenamins Kennedy School.

WHEN: 4pm and 5:30pm Thursday October 31st at Kennedy School in the movie theater. 5736 NE 33rd Ave, Portland, OR 97211.

COST: All shows are free and open to all ages. (The subject matter may be unsettling to younger children)

WHO: Starring: Sam A. Mowry, David Meyers, Daniel Rhovan, Mary Thomas, Curtis Hanson, Cynthia McGean and Scott Jamieson.

Sound Design by Marc Rose and Sam A. Mowry

Live Sound and Digital SFX Martin John Gallagher.

  Foley by David Ian and Dino De AElfweald

Adapted by Cynthia McGean

Directed by Sam A. Mowry

Tour Manager, Christopher Hart

Contact person: Sam A. Mowry 503-730-7155 voiceofsam@gmail.com

Live radio lives! Once again the Willamette Radio Workshop presents it’s annual Halloween extravaganza. WRW presents Frankenstein, adapted by Cynthia McGean. This will be the full-blooded masterpiece. A tale of science and passion, creation and betrayal, love, loss and horror. A classic story in, dare I say it, the vein of Dracula (our legendary first Halloween project). The show is recorded live and chock full of Foley sound effects in the style of the Golden Age of Radio with a few modern touches for good measure. A Magic Lantern show will be presented by Joe Medina. This production won the Special Ogle Award.

Merchandise available from Jamie Lawson, CD’s, jewelry and more.

All shows are free and open to all ages, the subject matter may be a little intense for younger listeners. Kennedy School hosts trick or treating for the kids starting at 4:30, especially helpful on rainy days.

Frankenstein boasts a wonderful cast, Sam A. Mowry as Victor, David Meyers as Dr. Waldman, Scott Jamieson as Captain Walton, Daniel Rhovan as the Creature plus Mary Thomas, Curtis Hanson, Cynthia McGean Sound design and music are by Marc Rose and Sam Mowry, with live Foley by David Ian and Dino De AElfweald

Our Poster is by John Kholepp.

RADIO MACBETH Finalist in the 2019 New York Festivals Radio Awards!

2019 New York Festivals Radio Awards announces FINALISTS.
We are pleased to announce that Willamette Radio Workshop’s RADIO MACBETH Adapted by Cynthia J. McGean has proceeded to the Finalist level in the 2019 New York Festivals Radio Awards. With entries in from over 30 countries, this year’s Radio Awards presented a very strong global competition.
One of six programs chosen to be finalists in an International competition for Best Drama Special, here are the other 5.
iHAMLET – Radio Romania
The 70th Anniversary of JEJU 4.3 Docudram Trilogy ‘Suni-Samchon’ – Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)
The King of The Flat White as Narrated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. – Warsaw Pact Ltd
Casting the Runes – Bafflegab Productions
Dangerous Visions: Shadowbahn – Corporation For Independent Media

RADIO MACBETH was first broadcast on Rolf Semperbon’s Sounds Unsound on KBOO Community Radio 90.7 fm, in Portland, Oregon. The cast and crew are as follows.
Sam A. Mowry, Actor/Director/Producer?Cynthia J. McGean, Writer?Marc Rose, Sound Design
David Ian/Dino de Ælfweald, Foley Sound Design
Martin John Gallagher, Live Sound/Recording
Patricia Blem, Actor?Autumn Trapani, Stage Manager
Chris Porter, Actor
Tom Beckett, Actor
Bruce Miles, Actor
Karyn O’Bryant, Actor
James Dineen, Actor

Joe Medina Magic Lantern Show
Jamie Lawson Merchandising

Facebook – @NYFRadioAwards
Twitter – @NYFRadioAwards
LinkedIn – nyf-radio-awards
Instagram – @nyfradioawards

20th McMenamins UFO Festival! Martians and Time Travel!

20th ANNUAL UFO FESTIVAL

12pm (NOON) Saturday, May 18, 2019

McMENAMINS HOTEL OREGON — McMinnville, OR

Matties Room (on the 2nd floor)

PLEASE NOTE THE NEW STARTING TIME!

“The Martian Death March” an original radio drama from one of my favorites and a true master of the genre, Ernest Kinoy. This X-Minus One adventure is the story of man’s inhumanity to Martians. An allegory of the westward expansion and the mistreatment of the native Americans.  A man who was a boy at the time tells the story of the death march of the Martians in 1997. He tells the tale of how the spider-beings have escaped from the reservations and are making their way home to the mountains lead by an earthman. Perhaps looking at this story through the prism of the future on another planet, we can see our own inhumanity a little clearer right here on Earth. And perhaps learn the lesson we still seem to be forgetting, or ignoring.

We conclude with The Anachronic Man: The Original Dr. Who, by H.G. Wells. This story started out as a precursor to The Time Machine, but our award winning adapter Cindy McGean found another sci-fi masterwork that must have been inspired by this short story. See what you think. The current political climate leads us to re-think how we treat aliens and all people who seem different. Too different for some.  Prejudice leads to violence and intolerance leads to a loss of hope for our present and future selves.

One of my favorite parts of doing old time radio is how these scripts from the past, looking at our future, show how little we have learned from our past mistakes and shows how dangerous we can still be to ourselves. We are happy to share these tales of tomorrow and hope we all start learning from our past to ensure a better present and future. As they say: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future, adventures in which you’ll live in a million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds.

Hopefully we still have one we can save.

This years cast includes: Chris Porter, Patricia Blem, Todd Tolces, Scott Jamieson, Toni Lima and Sam A. Mowry.

Live sound by Martin John Gallagher

Sound Design by Marc Rose

Live Foley by David Ian and Dino de AElfweald

Dramaturge Cynthia J. McGean

Merchandizing by Jamie Lawson and Joe Medina

Road Manger Christopher Hutchins

Stage Manager Autumn Trapani

Produced and directed by Sam A. Mowry