The [Radio] Play’s the Thing Direction and Production of The Shakespearean Baseball Game: A Comedy of Errors, Hits and Runs

Author

Michael K. Girts

Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

Spring 5-1-2005

Capstone Advisor

Peter K. Moller

Honors Reader

Marie Kemp

Capstone Major

Television-Radio-Film

Capstone College

Public Communications

Audio/Visual Component

no

Capstone Prize Winner

no

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Creative

Subject Categories

Film and Media Studies | Radio | Television

Abstract

Directing and producing The Shakespearean Baseball Game was a perfect capstone project for mySyracuseUniversity career. I have the proud distinction of being the only student at SU to graduate with both a B.S. in Television/Radio/Film and a B.F.A. in Acting. My goal was to invest my time and energy into a thesis that would utilize my expertise in both areas. Directing and producing this drama has been just that project.

I’ve learned about drama as a visual and audial medium. In radio drama, however, the director must paint the picture – must tell a story – with sound alone. My drama training did not wholly prepare me for this venture, but my radio training helped me to compensate. As talk show director at WAER, I favored pre-packaged pieces that (a) told a clear story and (b) contained musical elements to keep the listener attentive and entertained. Those pieces were factual, not fictional. I was eager to experience the creative freedom of producing an entirely fictional radio feature.

The Shakespearean Baseball Game was a joyful process. It tells the story of a baseball game in Shakespearean verse. The humor lies primarily in the parodied lines from Shakespeare’s classics. I conceptualized the piece as a mixture of the realistic and the presentational. I wanted the piece to sound as if it were taking place at a real life baseball game. I thought it needed real sounds that people would recognize, so my listeners – without the aide of seeing the action – could go on this journey with my actors. Still, I needed to create a fictional, romanticized, silly world where baseball managers, players and umpires would speak in rhyming verse. I felt my piece needed to embrace the naturalistic and the abstract. I think I found an appropriate balance.

The first step was to record the monologues, dialogues, singing, accompaniment, and sound effects. The second step was to edit it all together. The piece airedApril 23, 2005on WAER. I am proud of it.

There is a special connection between my Television/Radio/Film training and my Acting training: both have taught me to be a story-teller. For my thesis project, I’ve chosen to tell the story of The Shakespearean Baseball Game. I hope my listeners enjoy.

Recommended Citation

Girts, Michael K., "The [Radio] Play’s the Thing Direction and Production of The Shakespearean Baseball Game: A Comedy of Errors, Hits and Runs" (2005). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 661.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/661

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