SEQUIM — Olympic Peninsula Radio Theater, a new group formed to keep the radio drama “Adrian Cross, For Hire” alive and on the air, is putting out a call for volunteer writers, directors and actors to produce a series of new episodes.
Actors Ron Graham and Shelley Taylor, who had starring roles in the original production aired on KSQM-FM public radio in Sequim, met recently with the creator, writer and director of the original “Adrian Cross” radio drama, John Grissim, and they decided to try to produce up to four new episodes with the idea of possible syndication.
Fundraising
“We’re trying to raise funding so we can have the recording done through a professional studio,” said Graham, the voice of Adrian Cross in the original episode, “The Schooner Mystic Rose,” which also co-starred Taylor as the voice of Christine Hale in the episode that aired in January 2011.
Hale is Cross’ love interest in the production that tells the tale of a “Sequim Bay boat bum” whose boat is moored at John Wayne Marina.
Cross is hired to find a priceless artifact, leading to a deadly chase on the raging seas of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Anyone interested in volunteering or donating to help the “Adrian Cross” detective drama return to the air and stream online can email the group at oprt@settingsun.us.
Emails will be accepted until March 30.
Start in June
“We want to start production in June and produce four half-hour episodes by the end of the year,” Grissim said.
Taylor said she has been asked many times if the show would go on.
“There’s a lot of excitement still out there,” she said.
“We had a really good response to the first show.
“It was listened to all over the world. They were streaming it” on the Internet.
The original episode included some 250 sound effects, most which had to be created from scratch, Grissim said, adding that he got sore from beating his chest to make the sounds of a helicopter.
Grissim said Olympic Peninsula Radio Theater might work well as a nonprofit, but in any event, it should be lean and efficient, taking advantage of phone and email communications and organized into four committees, meeting periodically as needed.
Four committees
Tentatively, he said, the four committees could be broken down into actors, casting and direction, with rotating directors, sound effects and script development writers, and administrative and fundraising.
With an original music score — and scene cues — by Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Adam Stern already in the can and the availability of a professional-grade recording studio in the Sequim area, half-hour episodes can be produced for between $400 and $500 each, Grissim said, adding that the four-part series could be produced for $2,000 to $2,500.
The production could be locally recorded as well.
‘State-of-the-art studio’
“We’re fortunate to have a state-of-the-art studio, Cays Recording, in Carlsborg, owned by a first-rate musician and producer Jeremy Cays,” Grissim said.
As planned, the theater group will occasionally do live performances before audiences and expand its offering of radio plays, including feature-length serious dramas and comedy, Grissim said.
“It would be just fun in general to let people see how this was originally done,” Grissim said of old-time radio productions.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
