R4 Updates, May 2014

RRRR-wasteland-0314An historic piece of 20th century Modern poetry was heard as never before at ASIDE @ The Red Room on March 29, 2014.

Four readers, accompanied by a sound effects operator presented TS Eliot’s The Waste Land for an audience of appreciative listeners.
TS Eliot wrote this opus using a wide variety of voices and each R4 reader developed several for the occasion.

The Waste’Land was read by: Marc Anthony, Andi Smela, Charlie Storrar and Pat Woods. They were accompanied by Trevor Tortomasi on Sound Effects. Videographer William OPENSHAW was on-hand to record the event and has subsequently met with the readers to shoot close-ups for use in future editing.

R4 revived their adaptation of TREASURE ISLAND for a public audience at the new branch of the public library near ShiLin Summer Residence on Sunday, April 26. The show was well-attended by persons of all ages.

R4 readers Marc Anthony, Sarah Brooks, Jenny and Conrad Green, Mark Lipsey, Nate Murray and Naden Rowe brought the story to life. Accompanying  sound effects were ably provided by Pat Woods, who also voiced several characters.
Plans are underway for future R4 presentations at the library.

May 18, 2014

R4 Reader Rick Brundage and Ruth Giordano Director spent a few satisfying hours last Saturday in the ICRT studio. Rick teaches in the History Department and coaches the public speaking program at Taipei American School. R4 followers might remember Rick for his rendering of the title character in DRACULA last fall. On Saturday he read Edgar Allan Poe’s short story of horror and madness, “The Black Cat”.

Then, Ruth took a turn at the studio mic, reading Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery”. This story was first published in the New Yorker magazine in June of 1948. In addition to numerous reprints in magazines, analogies and textbooks, it has been adapted for radio, live television, a ballet, two films, a TV movie, an opera and a one-act play.

The Short Story Project is scheduled for two more days in the ICRT recording studio this month. Our head writer and dramaturg, Ignatz Ratzkywatzky carefully considered the unique qualities of our most dependable readers and chose a story for each from the wealth of Western short story literature. Murray Richardson was assigned a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne (author of The Scarlet Letter, The Marble Faun & numerous others) and Mark Lipsey will read a selection from the collection of Damon Runyon stories, (it was Runyon whose stories inspired the creation of the musical “Guys and Dolls”). Next week R4 is scheduled to record “A Scandal in Bohemia”, one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, with Pat Woods and Charlie Storrar reading.

The R4 creative team will be out of the country for the months of June and July, preparing sound cues to enhance the voice tracks of the above mentioned recordings and planning their third season.

Ruth Giordano