“Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play” cast members rehearse for the upcoming performance, which will be Oct. 28 to 30 at the Active Adult Center in Franklin. The live radio broadcast-style show spotlights three of Alfred Hitchcock’s early films.
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Few people could weave a thrilling and chilling story like Alfred Hitchcock.
The famed filmmaker knew just how to ratchet up the tension, keep his characters off-balance and saturate his movies with a growing sense of unease and dread.
And this weekend, three of Hitchcock’s early works come to life in Franklin.
Just in time for the Halloween season, the Master of Suspense takes center stage in the newest production by Our Town Players. “Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play” features adaptations of three early films — “The Lodger,” “Sabotage” and “The 39 Steps.” The production, which opens tonight and runs through Oct. 30, is framed as a 1940s-style radio broadcast, with actors playing dozens of characters, creating live sound effects and bringing musical underscoring to life.
The performance is a chance for Hitchcock fans to see some of his lesser-known works, while giving audiences a live theater experience like none other.
“It’s really unique because it is definitely different. The actors themselves are portraying 1940s stage actors who are then portraying actors in an Alfred Hitchcock movie,” said Lauren Underwood, director and narrator for the show.
This is the second straight year for a live radio-style show by Our Town Players. The community theater troupe, supported through Franklin Parks and Recreation and presenting live theater to the public since the 1990s, did a selection of stories by Edgar Allan Poe in fall 2021.
The show was such a success the group wanted to revisit the format again, Underwood said.
“It was a big hit, and so much fun to do — something a little bit different than staging an entire production,” she said. “We wanted to keep that spooky, kind of scary tradition. We found ‘Vintage Hitchcock’ and thought it was a good kind of Halloween show to put on.”
Hitchcock is considered by many to be the best filmmaker of all time. His works, from “North By Northwest,” “Psycho” and “The Birds” are classics, and his methods have been recreated countless times in suspense movies.
But in assembling “Vintage Hitchcock,” creator Joe Landry looked to the filmmaker’s early works. “The Lodger” captures a shadowy and threatening world in which newsboys yell out their stories of the latest murder by the Avenger just as a mysterious stranger shows up at the Bunting household to rent a room.
“The 39 Steps” addresses two great perils: living in a world of life and death political intrigue and attempting to forge a trusting and mutually satisfying intimate relationship.
“The Lady Vanishes” revolves around a mystery with political consequences as well as a romance with personal consequences after the disappearance of a woman.
“… the presentation you are about to experience powerfully raises up the presence of ‘Vintage Hitchcock,’ a figure in the process of becoming — and in fact revealing himself as already — the master of suspense, romance, and a hauntingly amusing as well as disturbing wit,” wrote Sidney Gottlieb, the co-editor of the Hitchcock Annual as well as editor of several collections of Hitchcock’s writings and interviews, in the program from the 2008 world premiere production at Atlanta’s Legacy Theatre.
The cast of 10 actors started work on the show in late September, taking on the monumental task of learning the 40-plus characters in the performance.
“Every actor has different roles. We have women playing men, we have different accents that are challenging to change. In one instance, an actor is talking to himself in two different characters,” Underwood said. “That’s been fun to play up on those opportunities.”
The cast threw themselves into the experience, Underwood said. One member composed music for the live radio commercials included in the show, while another performed those commercial jingles on the piano.
A third cast member volunteered to create the performance’s playbill.
The entire team worked on creating radio-style live sound effects to enhance the story, Underwood said.
“We’ve found it interesting to try to make sounds with everyday objects, so we can do any sounds as possible with live sound effects,” she said.
Tickets for “Vintage Hitchcock” are $8 in advance at Franklin Cultural Arts and Recreation Center, or $10 at the door. For those who have worked on the performance, it’s a chance to offer entertainment while also spreading awareness of what Our Town Players does.
“Our goal overall is to let the Franklin community know and Johnson County in general know that there is a community there here. We want people to feel welcome, and there are so many opportunities to be involved in community theater,” Underwood said.
IF YOU GO
“Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play”
What: A 1940s radio broadcast-style performance bringing three early Alfed Hitchcock films to life on stage.
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 and 29, 2:30 p.m. Oct. 30
Where: Active Adult Center, 160 E. Adams St., Franklin
Tickets: $8 presale at Franklin Cultural Arts and Recreation Center, 396 Branigin Blvd., or $10 at the door.
Information: facebook.com/ourtownplayers
