Three summers ago, a group of like-minded performer friends joked about starting a bar together. They eventually decided a bar was too ambitious of a venture.
Instead, they launched what they describe as a smaller project: “Shortwave Kitsch,” a 1940s radio drama-style show. They’ll present four original episodes at Piccolo Spoleto on May 31 and June 7 at the Cannon Street Arts Center.
Actor and co-founder Brandon Joyner said the group started performing comedic, one-hour readings of popular works like Huckleberry Finn alongside a drinking game to get the audience to participate. One of the performances took off more than all the others, however.
“That was what would eventually become ‘Shortwave Kitsch,’ a 1940s radio show,” he said.
Everyone does everything
Joyner is an actor, writer, producer and more within the group, as all the members hold multiple roles. The four co-owners also act, manage social media, and help with production, sound or music and other tasks that keep the group running.
Brooke Rash, co-founder and sound manager, is mostly self-taught when it comes to creating sound effects.
“I have a lot of tech background — that’s what I do. I just looked over at Brandon and said, ‘Hey you’re planning to do the sound effects live, right?’” said Rash. “He said yes, and I asked, ‘Can I do it?’ So I kind of taught myself.”
Because of the number of people needed to stage these shows, the group doesn’t rely solely on those officially part of the company. They also enlist their “extremely talented friends,” as well as local talent, to fill in as needed.
“Our mission is basically to take actors from around town or around the state or around the United States and introduce them to spaces or audiences that they might not come in contact with,” Joyner said. “It’s ingrained in our message that we have a sense of community.”
That sense of community is crucial to how they create their shows. While the writing process is fairly typical — Joyner writes the scripts and then passes them off for editing over a few weeks — the actual production is unlike most others. The group performs onstage with live music and sound effects and does not memorize their lines.
“We wanted to keep it like they did back in the day, so the scripts don’t need to be memorized, because we want the page flipping,” Rash said.
Bringing old-school radio to new audiences
Because the show is meant to evoke a vintage 1940s style, keeping these aspects is important to the group.
“If you listen to the old Superman serials, that’s exactly what they were doing,” Joyner said. “They had that live orchestra there. They had the sound effects there, and then they were reading off the script, and it was going out live then.”
In addition to live shows, the group also releases a podcast episode twice a month, giving listeners the full radio show experience.
The group’s June 7 performance will run a bit longer and have more of a “variety show feel.” It’s in partnership with SCETV, South Carolina’s public broadcasting network.
“This is a dying or dead art form that really deserves attention,” said Joyner. “I hope we’re doing it well and that people will come to see as many shows as they can.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: “Shortwave Kitsch” plays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. May 31, and at 7 p.m. June 7 at Cannon Street Arts Center.
Madey Lynch is is an arts journalism graduate student at Syracuse University.
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