Going Live

Between the 1920s and 1940s, audio theater in every form enjoyed an ardent following, but imagination and inventive Foley artists were no competition for the flicker and flash of the boob tube. By the 1950s, only a few of the most popular shows — Gunsmoke, Guiding Light, and the old-time radio holdout Dragnet — had made the transition to TV. Radio drama suddenly found itself the redheaded stepchild of the NEA and BBC, and Garrison Keillor eventually became its wrinkly warden. Until now. Impossible Productions regulars Alexia Staniotes and Sean Owens (you may recall them from their delightful turn in last year's black-box adaptation of Young Frankenstein) enliven the withering art form with "Ear Candy: Radio in the Flesh." Every week, a live "studio" audience will be asked to choose from a variety of outrageous situations such as "Amish rake fight" to challenge sibling sleuths Jimmy and Janie Jackson. In the midst of last-minute script rewrites and onstage breakdowns, the "Miracle Powder Mystery Hour" goes "on air," replete with live advertisements, skillfully executed sound effects, and satisfied murmurs as folks learn that squeezing a bag of corn starch sounds exactly like well-packed snow crunching underfoot.
Dec. 7-22, 8 p.m., 2007