Lit Between the Ears

LA Theatre Works: Blithe Spirt by Noel Coward on Saturday October 25 – tonight! October 25, 2008

The Play’s The Thing
L.A. THEATRE WORKS

Next Saturday, November 1 from 10 pm - midnight on 89.3 KPCC, L.A. Theatre Works‘ The Play’s the Thing will air The Rivalry by Norman Corwin.  David Strathairn and Paul Giamatti star as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, rivals for the U.S. Senate – one a rising Illinois legislator and abolitionist candidate of the newly formed Republican party, the other the Democratic incumbent and champion of states’ rights.  Join L.A. Theatre Works on this pre-election day weekend for a rare and timely revival of Corwin’s Broadway play, taken from the transcripts of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates that tackled the day’s most passionate issue – slavery. Also starring Lily Rabe as Adele Douglas, the young wife of Senator Douglas through whose lens we witness the proceedings.   Eric Simonson, 2006 Academy Award-winner for his documentary The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, directs.  The broadcast includes an interview with Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn.

L.A. Theatre Works’ radio theater series, The Play’s the Thing, airs locally every Saturday night from 10 pm to midnight on 89.3 FM KPCC Southern California Public Radio, and is streamed on the KPCC website (www.kpcc.org) for one week following each broadcast.  The series can also be heard on 89.7 WGBH in Boston; 91.5 FM WBEZ in Chicago; 94.9 KUOW in Seattle; 93.5 FM KRTS “Marfa Public Radio” in Texas; 90.5 FM KUT in Austin; 88.9 FM KUNM in Albuquerque; 91.5 FM, Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan; 94.1 KPFA in Northern California; 91.1 FM KRCB in Sonoma County; 89.1 KUOR in Redlands; as well as on many other public radio stations nationwide and XM Satellite Radio.  Selected programs from LATW are also heard internationally over BBC World Service, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Telefis Eirann (Ireland), Radio Hong Kong, and Radio New Zealand.  The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection is available in bookstores, libraries, through their catalog, digitally on itunes, overdrive.com, audible.com, and on the L.A. Theatre Works website at www.latw.org.

On XM Satellite Radio, The Play’s the Thing now airs on Sonic Theater three times a week.  Each broadcast premieres on Friday evening at 8 pm eastern/5 pm pacific and repeats the following Monday in the same time slot.  On Wednesday, XM offers an encore performance of a previously-broadcast program.

To get a full schedule,  go to the L.A. Theatre Works website at www.latw.org and follow the link through the “Radio Theatre Series” heading and then “Episode Guide” or go directly to www.scpr.org for KPCC.

Additional support for the series is provided by AudioFile Magazine.  Listeners can visit their website at www.audiofilemagazine.com to view 65 reviews of LATW plays and hear sound clips from them.