Tuning into radio's heyday

Regis CollegeCast members (from left) Erin Forgay, Danielle Sanford, and Meaghan Callahan prepare for tonight's opening of ''Radio Stories,'' a play drawn from personal recollections, at Regis College. (Regis College)

Much has been written about Eleanor Roosevelt, but unless you speak to the listeners who actually heard her radio addresses, you might miss one charming detail. She had an awful voice. It made even her ardent fans cringe. A trivial fact perhaps, but playwright Wendy Lement doesn't think so. It's just this type of quirky, vivid detail that brings history to life in "Radio Stories," Lement's new play based on memories of life during radio's heyday.

The show, which opens tonight at Regis College in Weston and runs through Sunday, is set at a fictional radio station at the end of the Depression, and every scene, comedy skit, song, and sound effect is drawn from personal recollections from the time. When the sole radio staffer on duty has to interrupt a live show to fix the roof antenna with a wrench she yanks out of her purse, it's based on a real event. When an out-of-work caller tells the show's host that he plans to kill himself, the talking down he gets channels the same words that crackled over the radio seven decades ago - and saved a life. And when a family stands frozen next to their radio as President Roosevelt announces the start of World War II, the somber scene is drawn straight from tearful remembrances.

"You can't make this stuff up," said Lement, who heads the theater department at Regis. "This is the drama and conflict of these people's lives brought to life. These are the fascinating stories of ordinary people who don't think they are creating history but they are."

The memories Lement based the piece on were gathered last fall by Regis students. For the past four years, Lement conducted joint classes with Susan Zeiger, a former Regis history professor who now works for a Watertown-based nonprofit educational organization, Primary Source. Dubbed the Oral History and Performance Project, their courses schooled students in both theater and historical research. The students gathered personal stories about moments in modern history via interviews, and Lement wove their findings into original stage productions with student input.

"Memories are so ephemeral and hard to capture, but they are the human underpinning of history," said Zeiger. "It's been transformative for me as a historian to work with someone in theater who can transfer these accounts not just to paper or tape, but into physical space and body language and movements."

Lement made a challenging choice in staging the piece that premieres tonight. The play's action takes place as if the radio station is on air. The audience hears only what the radio listeners would, though they can see the radio studio (and all the behind-the-scenes action) as well as the live band on stage. Also visible at all times is a family listening at home, but its members are heard only when they call in to the station.

"It was more interesting to me to show changing relationships without dialogue," said Lement. "Ultimately, it also better captures what it would be like to be a real radio audience."

Using only on-air dialogue also offers an interesting method to depict not only defining moments in history but also the fits and starts of social change. In one scene, world-renowned black opera singer Marian Anderson arrives for a radio interview.

"She walks into the station and one person won't shake her hand," said Lement. "So we hear the polite and respectful interview by the host like the listeners would, but we also see how she's slighted by another staff member."

The piece addresses difficult issues including racism and anti-Semitism, and the role of women in early radio is a central theme. But fun pervades the show as well. Live performances of hits from the era, such as "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" (made famous by the Andrews Sisters), are interspersed among short soap operas, talk shows, and comedy bits. They, too, are all inspired by real accounts of radio remembered by listeners.

"It's amazing to sit down and hear someone still laughing today about a comedy routine they heard 70 years ago," said Zeiger.

"Radio Stories" will be performed at 7:30 tonight, tomorrow and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday at Casey Theater, Regis College Fine Arts Center, 235 Wellesley St., Weston. Tickets: $15; $10 seniors, students. Call 781-768-7070.

HOMEGROWN TALENT: When it comes to violinist and Newton native Peter Zazofsky, conductor Ronald Knudsen has every right to say "I knew him when." After Knudsen joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra 44 years ago, assistant concertmaster George Zazofsky was quick to befriend him and gain his awe. Soon Knudsen would meet George's son, Peter, and his respect for the young violinist's talent would grow, too.

"At a young age, you don't quite know which way a person will go, but Peter was surrounded by classical music and he seemed very talented," said Knudsen. "And in the end, he did stay with it and has done extremely well."

Zazofsky went on to solo with many of the world's top orchestras, to perform in the best halls, and win numerous honors, including the grand prize at the Montreal International Competition, which no other American has done. Currently, he performs with the Muir Quartet and teaches at Boston University.

On Saturday and Sunday, he'll join his old family friend in his hometown for a Scottish-themed classics concert, "Scotch Plaid," with Knudsen's ensemble, the New Philharmonia Orchestra.

The program features Zazofsky performing Bruch's tuneful, rhythmic, and seldom-heard "Scottish Fantasy," as well as Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony (No. 3 in A minor).

The New Philharmonia Orchestra performs "Scotch Plaid" at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church, 848 Beacon St., Newton Centre. Tickets $25; seniors $22; students $8; families $60. 617-527-9717, www.newphil.org.

THE ART OF SHOPPING: The season of craft fairs is here, and the search for one-of-a-kind gifts can start this weekend.

The annual St. Joseph Craft Fair and Bake Shoppe on Saturday in Medway features 40 area crafters. With free admission, a snack café, and home-baked treats, you can consider this a gift for yourself as well.

The action starts tomorrow in Hopkinton, where 10 potters and a basket-maker from Central Massachusetts will sell their wares at the sixth annual Primarily Potters Show, which benefits the local Cultural Arts Alliance.

Works for sale will include bowls and chip-and-dip dishes by Carol Mecagni of Hopkinton, textured shino-glazed slab bowls and pins by Mary Edwards of Shrewsbury, hand-painted pieces fired in soda vapor by Barbara Wilson of Hudson, and hand-carved stoneware inspired by the Czech roots of Hana Reilly of Hopkinton. Prices start at $3 and top out at $75.

St. Joseph Craft Fair is Saturday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., at St. Joseph Parish Center, 145 Holliston St., Medway. Free admission. 508-533-7771.

Primarily Potters Sale is tomorrow and Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. at the Cultural Arts Alliance farmhouse, 98 Hayden Rowe St., Hopkinton. 508-435-9222, www.caahopkinton.org.

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