Seattle Radio Theatre LIVE BROADCAST on Friday, December 11

Time for a rare overtly self-serving post about next Friday's (December 11, 2009) Seattle Radio Theatre production of the Lux Radio Theater version of It's A Wonderful Life at Town Hall Seattle. Tickets are on sale now for the show that stars Pacific Northwest broadcasting legends Pat Cashman, Chris (J.P. Patches) Wedes, Tracey Conway, Steve Wilson, John Maynard, Jim Dever and Lee Callahan.

The fun gets underway with an audience warm-up at 7:45 pm, and we then go live on KPTK AM 1090 at 8:00 pm for the one-hour program, produced and directed by yours truly (I stole that last line from my former KIRO colleague Jim French). The show features live music performed by Rob Jones, and live sound effects performed (on equipment originally owned by sound effects legend Ray Erlenborn) by Curtis Takahashi of REPS (Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound). Since this is a live broadcast, the live audience is part of the show, too, with their laugher and applause (or boos and hisses for Mr. Potter, perhaps). The complete program will also be re-broadcast on Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24) at 7:00 pm on KPTK AM 1090.

Last year, this (roughly) same cast presented the Lux version of The Bishop's Wife, and you can click here for audio of that live broadcast.

I founded Seattle Radio Theatre in 2000 while working for MOHAI, and then moved it to Town Hall in 2007. This year's show will be our 10th annual production, and I give special thanks to the wonderful cast and crew, many of whom have been involved since the very beginning, for making this holiday tradition possible each year.