Over time, I developed a radio play unit that I used with my Theatre 1 classes (mixed grades 9-12).
I started with a short talk about the "radio days" that came even before my time - today I might even pull up and show a clip from, say,
The Waltons, showing the family seated around the radio in the living room, hanging on every word of a presidential speech or laughing at Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy or something.
Then played them recordings of two radio plays, a comedy and a drama. For the comedy, I most often used an episode of
Our Miss Brooks commonly called "Weekend at Crystal Lake" - the kids get most of the jokes, and they laugh for the right reasons. For the drama, I'd alternate between the "Sorry, Wrong Number" episode of
Suspense and the Mercury Theatre's adaptation of
The War of the Worlds. When I started doing this, I was playing cassette tapes of the shows, but cyberspace has made it easier than ever to get your hands on old-time radio plays.
After each listening session, I'd have the kids discuss ways that radio storytelling differs from stage storytelling, with special attention to the ways writers get around the missing visual element.
Then I'd divide the class up into groups, and have each group cooperatively write a short radio script to rehearse and perform. I have a collection of sound-effects recordings that they can draw from, and these days they can even download any number of free, legal sound-effects files.
I could usually break down this unit so that I got several grades out of it along the way.
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Jeff Grove
Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
Stanton College Preparatory School
Jacksonville FL