Audio theater company knows The Shadow

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? 'The Shadow' knows!"

So do the actors in the next Northwest Arkansas Audio Theater production, a "mystery hour" including an episode of "The Shadow" from 1938 and a tale of eccentric armchair detective Nero Wolfe from 1951.

"Traditionally, ACO has had a mystery around this time of year," says director Marshall Prettyman of the Audio Theater's relationship with the Arts Center of the Ozarks in Springdale. "On a cold winter night, a mystery sort of works well. Of course, we don't have cold winter nights this winter, but I thought it was a great time to do a mystery anyway!"

Scott Anderson, the creative mind behind Northwest Arkansas Audio Theatre, has on-stage experience at ACO in shows including The Bad Seed, Arsenic and Old Lace, Spider's Web and Much Ado About Nothing. He says after seeing War of the Worlds presented as radio theater at WAC, "I conned a bunch of people into trying it out with me."

Like the company's previous productions, this show will use no sets, and sound effects will be created in full view of the audience. Actors will step up to their microphones scripts in hand, but that doesn't mean they're not working hard, Prettyman says.

"The challenge is actually the same challenge as in doing a traditional play -- you have to memorize your lines," he says. "You don't have to memorize cues because you're looking at the script. But as I often put it to the actors at the very beginning, you can't read your lines. You have to say your lines. The only way you have to put across the character and what's going on is how you say your lines.

"You don't have physical gestures, and you really don't have facial expressions because of the mic. So I've been constantly talking to the actors about what their motivation and intent is. There's much more making sure everybody gets into their character, even more so than in directing a standard play.

"But on the other hand," Prettyman says, "you're casting just the voice. I have a little part, a character who is 16 or 17 years old, and at 68, I can do that!"

-- Becca Martin-Brown

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NAN What's Up on 02/17/2017