Delmarva Radio - Edgar Allen Poe: The Dark Side
Delmarva Radio Theatre, presents Act I of a presentation of selected works of Edgar Allen Poe created and arranged by The Community Players of Salisbury. Produced for radio by Delmarva Public Media, the program is based on the Community Players two-act theatre production Edgar Allen Poe: The Dark Side. Featured works of this two-act presentation include first person narratives of "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Raven," "The Cask of Amontillado," and others. Three women from Poe’s life serve as moderators, his mother, his wife, and his fiancé. They introduce each of the works and speak as though they are talking directly to Poe. The second act follows on Sunday evening, February 20, at this same time.
Edgar Allan Poe: The Dark Side
Act II
Delmarva Radio Theatre, produced by Delmarva Public Media presents Act II of Edgar Allen Poe: The Dark Side. The program offers selected works of Poe created and arranged by The Community Players of Salisbury. Adapted for radio by Delmarva Public Media, the program is based on the Community Players two act theatre production Edgar Allen Poe: The Dark Side. Featured works of Act II include the three women in Poe’s life offering summaries of some of Poe’s works and theories about his death. A dramatization of “The Cask of Amontillado” is presented as well as a first-person narrative of “The Black Cat.”
Delmarva Radio - Departures
“Departures” is adapted from a short story of the same name by Bohdan Dowhaluk published in volume 13 of the Delmarva Review. In addition to the radio play, the program includes a short review of the history of radio theatre and an interview with Mr. Dowhaluk. The drama was produced on Zoom and features actors with The Community Players of Salisbury. The story is about an aging professor seeking to find himself, and his encounter with a fiery redhead in a hotel room. Their relationship is both humorous and tragic. Delmarva Radio Theatre is hosted by Harold Wilson.
Delmarva Radio - It’s Always the Blood
Delmarva Radio Theatre is pleased to present “It’s Always the Blood,” a drama by Harold O. Wilson adapted from his novel A Taste of Salt. In August 1619, a virus came to the shores of North America. It came on a Portuguese pirate ship that dropped anchor off Jamestown, VA and offloaded 20 to 30 captured Africans who were then sold to the colonists. The virus was slavery; the buying and selling of human beings for the purpose of labor. The disease it spawned is sometimes dormant, often active, but always latent. We know it today as racism. This play is a fictional story of one of the 388,000 slaves brought to this country.
The play begins in a dank prison cell, under a municipal building, in New Orleans. The year is 1817. Angel Dupree is being held in the prison. She is visited by a former acquaintance, Dorgan Price. He has a message for her…The story then advances to the year 1894 where Rachel Braxton, Angel Dupree’s elderly daughter is telling her own daughter her story of being taken as a child from her mother and raised as his own by Dorgan Price.
The Community Players of Salisbury’s Michael Murphy is featured as Dorgan Price and Judy Hearn as Angel Dupree and also as Rachael Braxton. Other actors from the Community Players include Ken Johnson as the Narrator, and Pete Evans as the Price College President. Also featured are Daniel Foster as Roger, Lee Slater as the woman’s voice in the prison, and Jack Slater as the Turnkey.
The play is followed by a short interview with actors Judy Hearn and Daniel Foster.
Delmarva Radio Theatre - The Dark Ride & Call Again
“The Dark Ride,” the first drama, is a macabre horror story with a contemporary psychological twist. Written by Linda Chambers, it is set in the gothic world of Funland, the haunted mansion on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Dennis Lawson’s, “Call Again,” is a noir crime story in the gangster style of the 1930s, with a present day setting.
Tonight is double feature night on Delmarva Radio Theatre. The program is two short dramas, “The Dark Ride,” and “Call Again.” Both radio plays are based on two pulp fiction short stories of the same name published in Beach Pulp, a publication of Nancy Sakaduski’s Cat and Mouse Press. Pulp fiction was a term used to describe a body of writing published on cheap low-quality paper (thus the name pulp) in the early nineteen hundreds. These ten cent magazines featuring larger-than-life heroes, exotic placers, and strange mysterious characters also came to include gothic literature as well as the noir work of writers such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
Delmarva Public Radio Special: Lectures by Sue Ellen Thompson - #2 Marriage, Metaphor, and Mortality, the Poetry of Jane Kenyon
In celebration of National Poetry Month this April, Delmarva Public Radio is featuring “Literary Biographies with Sue Ellen Thompson” to be broadcast each Thursday morning at 9:00 am on WSDL 90.7. In this series, Sue Ellen Thompson discusses the life and work of three eminent American poets: Robert Frost, Jane Kenyon, and Jack Gilbert. The following talk is the first in the series and is titled “Robert Frost, Wild Man.”
Sue Ellen Thompson, a distinguished poet in her own right, has published five books of poetry, served as editor of the 2005 edition of the Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry and is the recipient of numerous awards including nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. Her poems have been read a number of times on National Public Radio’s “The Writer’s Almanac.”
All four of the programs in this series are produced by Delmarva Public Radio with the cooperation of the Talbot County Free Library in Easton, Maryland and The Talbot County Arts Council which funded the original lecture series on which this program is based. All of the lectures were recorded in the Frederic Douglass room of the Talbot County Free Library before a live audience.
“Robert Frost, Wild Man,” focuses on the life of Frost following the death of his wife, Elinor in 1938. Frost is probably the best known and best loved poet in America and when we think of him, we think of a gentle soul sitting by the fireside in his New England cottage writing verse like “The Road Not Taken” or “Mending Wall,” poetry that touches our own gentle nature. Following the death of Elinor, however, Frost was a man in conflict. To ease his guilt and his depression, he reached out for another man’s wife. Sue Ellen’s lecture is the story of Frost’s relationship with that woman.
To listen to the podcast of this lecture which was broadcast on April 4, 2019, click here or visit the Delmarva Public Radio website www.delmarvapublicradio.net.
Delmarva Public Radio is producing a new half-hour drama program that will be hosted by Harold Wilson called, “Delmarva Radio Theatre”. The program features original radio plays adapted from short stories published in The Delmarva Review, the journal of the Eastern Shore Writers Association. Actors include members of The Community Players of Salisbury, a local theatre company, as well as very talented Delmarva Public Radio staff. The schedule at this point is to produce a drama each quarter. All will appear on Delmarva Public Radio WSCL 89.5.
December 16, 2018
This edition of Delmarva Radio Theatre features the drama “Cantabile,” a story told by the main character Anne Molloy. Anne is a pianist “of a certain age,” who, retired from concert performances, conducts two-week workshops at her big house, “Cantabile,” eight times each year for adult amateur piano students. The focus of Anne’s story is her relationship with a brilliant young pianist, Philip, who, even though he is young, she allows into one of her workshops. Philip is different and Anne senses he doesn’t quite fit in with the older group. But he is a wonderful pianist and Anne is taken with him. Philip doesn’t continue his studies, however; he joins the Marines. When he does return to “Cantabile” Anne notices that his right leg is a prosthesis. The play is adapted from the short story “Cantabile” written by John McKeon and published in volume 11 of the Delmarva Review. It was nominated for a Pushcart award. The characters in “Cantabile” are played by, Anne Colwell as story-teller Anne Molloy, and Mike Murphy as Philip. Anne Colwell is a poet and professor of English at the University of Delaware and Mike Murphy is an emergency services medical doctor in Salisbury, Maryland and a member of the Community Players of Salisbury. Link to broadcast.
September 9, 2018
“Doreen” is adapted for radio from a short story of the same name by the author, Margaret Adams. The radio drama is a monologue in which Doreen tells us about being diagnosed with breast cancer and her subsequent choice of treatment. It's a moving and perhaps somewhat controversial story. Actress Judy Hearn, a member of the Community Players of Salisbury, takes the role of Doreen. Author Margaret Adams is a nurse practitioner. In interviews before and after the presentation of the play Margaret discusses “Doreen” from both a literary and medical perspective. Link to Broadcast
March 22, 2016
Even though the setting is 1932, the topic is very timely. It is the story of an unmarried young woman who finds herself “in the family way” (a euphemism of that day) and facing a significant decision. Our play is the story of her struggle with that decision. The program features a short interview with author Marcelle Tiebeaux. The episode will air will air Sunday evening at 6:00 pm on March 22, 2016.
January 17, 2016
An original story by Margaret Rodenberg titled, “Mrs. Morrisette.” “Mrs. Morrisette” will air Sunday evening at 6:00 pm on January 17, 2016.
October 18, 2015
The first play, “Robot on a Park Bench” by Brandon Getz will air Sunday evening October 18, at 6:00 pm on WSCL 89.5.