The Water Engine. When: Wednesday-Saturday. Where: Hemsley Theatre, Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave. Tickets: $14-$20. Etc.: Saturday's performance will be simulcast on Wisconsin Public Radio; no charge for Saturday tickets, but seating is limited.
On Saturday, dramatic history will be made at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the help of 100-year-old technology, a 75-year-old art form and a 30-year-old play.
But the result, say those history makers, will be as thought-provoking, fresh and relevant as the morning news.
Tony Simotes, University Theatre director, and Norman Gilliland, Wisconsin Public Radio producer, will team up to broadcast a live performance of UT's production of David Mamet's "The Water Engine" to WPR affiliates statewide as part of the station's Old Time Radio Drama series.
The production, airing at 8 p.m. from the Hemsley Theatre on the UW campus, will close the successful 10-performance run of the Mamet play, the first of UT's 2007-08 season of six productions.
This is the first time UT and WPR have collaborated on a project -- and probably won't be the last, said Simotes and Gilliland. The nature of the performance also gave UT the chance to do something different in the opening show's traditionally abbreviated time slot, as well as giving Simotes' young actors a chance to perform on the air.
"Radio drama is wildly popular today, especially vintage drama," said Gilliland, who has been hosting the weekend evening broadcasts on 90.7 FM and 970 AM for the past 18 years. "They're simple, straightforward storylines that exercise the theater of the mind. Radio drama is the power of the imagination at work." ...
