NPR
Affiliate WAMU-88.5 to Air Lean & Hungry Theater’s
Productions on
High Definition and Main Broadcast Frequency
Two-Hour “Twelfth
Night” to Air September 5 on HD-3; One-Hour
“MacBeth” coming Halloween Evening
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| Twelfth Night features the voices of Jessica Hansen as Olivia and Alex Zavistovich as Malvolio |
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Washington, DC August 27, 2010
– It’s taken four years for Lean & Hungry
Theater to
become an overnight sensation, but on Sunday, September 5, from 6 PM to
8 PM, WAMU-88.5 will air the company’s radio drama version of
Shakespeare’s comedy “Twelfth Night” on
the radio
station’s HD-3 channel.
It’s the first step in what may shape up to be a continuing
agreement between WAMU-88.5 and Lean & Hungry Theater, which
regularly records its radio drama productions live at the Church of St.
Stephen and the Incarnation in DC’s Columbia Heights.
After the airing of the company’s two-hour long production of
“Twelfth Night” on the HD-3 channel, WAMU-88.5
plans to air
Lean & Hungry’s one-hour reduction of the tragedy of
“MacBeth,” once completed. The program will be
carried on
the station’s main broadcast frequency 88.5 MHz from 6 PM to
7 PM
on Halloween evening.
Contingent on the continued availability of high-quality programming
from Lean & Hungry, National Public Radio affiliate WAMU-88.5
also
is prepared to offer clearance for a monthly series of radio dramas
from the company.
“We haven’t exactly climbed the ladder of success
yet, but
we’ve found the room where they keep the ladder,”
jokes
Lean & Hungry Artistic Director Jessica Hansen. “We
now have
a legitimate broadcast outlet for our radio performances, to supplement
the CD sales and downloads we’ve already established for our
work.”
Lean & Hungry’s “Twelfth Night”
is available at
the Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC. It also is
available for download from iTunes, CDBaby, Digstation, and a number of
other sites.
Lean & Hungry Theater’s goal is to provide radio
drama
adaptations of Shakespearean classics using contemporary
interpretations, distributed with modern technology, to make the
classic texts more readily available and easier to understand for
underserved communities. The company’s works are endorsed by
the
Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, and Lean &
Hungry’s Hansen
also is focused on reaching out to younger audiences.
“The public charter school system introduces Shakespeare to
students as early as the fourth grade, which is great. At the same
time, many fourth grade students do not necessarily have English as
their first language,” Hansen explains. “If we can
present
Shakespeare in a more contemporary way, and get these plays into
students hands through a variety of technologies, we will give them a
real leg up in their educational development.”
Lean & Hungry Theater now is seeking underwriting support for
its
mission, as well as to increase capacity for further educational
initiatives. Donations to the theater company are now tax deductible
when earmarked in contributions to the St. Stephen Community Center;
the theater company is awaiting final determination of its own
non-profit status from the IRS.
Upcoming Productions: The
Play’s the Thing
A professional radio theater company performing in St. Stephen and the
Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton Street, NW, Washington, DC
20010, Lean & Hungry Theater ties its productions at St.
Stephen’s with church calendar events:
- Measure for
Measure (Lent and Easter: Spring 2011)
- The
Merchant of Venice (Pentecost: June 4 and 5, 2010)
- A Midsummer
Night’s Dream (Ordinary Time: June 2011)
Outside
of St. Stephen, Lean & Hungry works on a wide range of other
projects – from workshops to special themed CD recordings.
We’re always looking for new talent, smart people, and good
ideas.
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