A little more Firesign for ya
Play it by Ear’s Thrilling Days of Yesteryear company presents The Lux Radio Theater’s adaptation of The Maltese Falcon at The Works in Pacific Grove. Featuring: Steve Kane as Sam Spade, with Rob Eaton, Geoff Mutch, Victoria Blaszczak, and David Manchel. Saturday, May 30 at 7:00pm and Sunday, May 31 at 6:00pm, $5 admission.
Play it by Ear’s A Signal to Noise presents StarStruck: a Benefit for “Gentleman Gene” Colan at The Henry Miller Library. Saturday, August 15 at 7:30pm, $12.00 admission.
A post-Firesign in Monterey entry for you.
It should be pointed out that Austin, Bergman, Ossman, and Proctor have lives outside of the Firesign Theatre! A lot of people don’t know about the great side-projects that the guys have created, so I thought I’d pass along a few new links for you:
David Ossman and his wife Judith Walcutt founded the audio/stage/television production company Otherworld Media in 1980. Located in the wondrous wilds of Washington State (actually Puget Sound, if you want to get all technical about it), their accomplishments have included the 50th Anniversary productions of The War of the Worlds and Norman Corwin’s We Hold These Truths; a fantastic adaptation of Empire of the Air; and the Parent’s Choice Gold Medal Award-winning The Wonderful World of Oz: A Centennial Celebration.
They are also producers/directors/writers for the audio productions at The International Mystery Writers’ Festival in KY, authors of both fiction and children’s lit, hosts of the live radio arts magazine Live from the Islands, and…this one’s really groovy…they produced the first ever stage productions of Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him and Don’t Crush That Dwarf (Hand Me the Pliers) this past March.
You can find Phil Proctor online at Planet Proctor, where he is promoting his new children’s book. Phil Austin is the keeper of all things Firesign at his Blog of the Unknown.
One of my future posts will be about radio drama in the classroom, something that I’ve had some experience with. Peter Bergman has such an after-school program with the Radio Club, where disadvantaged elementary school students (in the Southern California area) work together to write, produce, and perform their own radio plays before an invited audience over ten sessions. Kids find their voices through Radio Club.
You know the Firesign Theatre. Now know their outside projects! Fun for everyone! Links are to the side, but please remember to clean up after yourselves.
