Youth theater re-creates excitement of live radio

Brewer Youth Theatre takes the audience back to the golden days of radio with its fifth annual Halloween Radio Show, one night only, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at Brewer Middle School.

The actors will recreate a night of live radio from October 1938 with dramas, a game show, music, commercials and more. Director Rich Kimball serves as the co-host for the evening, along with Brewer Middle School teacher Tom Burby and musical director Clayton W. Smith.

Two suspenseful dramas will be the centerpieces of the show. Lucille Fletcher’s “The Hitch Hiker” stars Rachel Sibley as a woman driving across the country who encounters a mysterious man seemingly around every turn. His identity provides a shocking twist to the story. In “Night Call” by Richard Matheson, a bedridden elderly woman, played by Erin Mills, is plagued by strange telephone calls in the middle of the night. When she realizes who is on the other end of the line, it may be too late to do anything about it.

The BYT Radio Players also put a humorous twist on the popular quiz shows of the era, with “Stump The Panel,” featuring Jamie Bartol, Jillian McNally and Angela Patterson as the so-called experts attempting to answer listener questions.

Special guest Tim Throckmorton of WABI-TV remembers his radio predecessors, who may have had a tendency to exaggerate, as he hosts a segment on Greatest Sports Legends.

Musical performers include Brewer High School students Jewels Watson, Erika Cote and Jamie Bartol, as well as a favorite from previous radio shows, accordionist Nancy Lamarre, who will be joined by Lionel Ducas, Germaine Cormier on the piano, and Eddie Michaud playing spoons.

The show falls on the 70th anniversary of the most famous broadcast in radio history, Orson Welles’ 1938 “War of the Worlds,” and BYT will include a tribute to that production as well.

Admission is $3, $2 for students and seniors. Call 989-3760 for more information.