The “hybrid” in Wisconsin Hybrid Theatre likely comes from the fusion between two different performances within each performance. The group of local contemporary stage actors play a group of vintage radio actors from the golden age of broadcasting. Actors play actors playing characters. It isn’t radio, but it’s not really a fully staged theatrical comedy in the traditional sense, either.
Radio WHT has recently announced that the over-the-air performance they’d done for local radio station 91.7 WMSE has spawned a four-show season of radio comedy on the station. Once per month, WHT will perform live 30-minute performances as a part of WMSE’s Sunday morning “Frontier Radio Theatre.”
Here’s a quick schedule:
September 5thSherlock Holmes’ Adventure at Stonor Manora comic adaptation of The Speckled Band (y’knowthe one about the snake . . )
October 4thFrank Candor Investigates Jekyll & Hyde.
November 7thWHT presents War of the What? . . . Exactly!And really, who wouldn’t enjoy a spoof of an old sci-fi drama?
And finally, on December 5thA Carol On BradyRadio WHT takes a comic look at Dickens’ best-known work . . .
Charles Sommersthe man behind it allhas an exceedingly sharp sense of comedy that works well within the formula of old-timey radio parody. The over-the-air performances could potentially bring-in bigger audiences for their live stage shows, which never fall short of being solidly enjoyable.
WMSE’s Frontier Radio Theatre (which also features classics from the early days of radio) begins every Sunday morning at 8am.
