Just Do It

Radio Gals


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Published: Jan 3, 2007

Runs Jan. 4-28, $10-$25, Hedgerow Theatre, 146 W. Rose Valley Road, Media, 610-565-4211, www.hedgerowtheatre.org

Director Penelope Reed was first drawn to Radio Gals after she learned that it dealt with real people. The story surrounds the pursuits of an L.A. woman in the 1920s who took a stab at radio, a staple of popular culture at the time.

"In her little home, this woman creates a national radio station and gets in trouble because she's wave jumping," explains Reed, who has directed and acted in numerous shows at Hedgerow. Radio Gals was staged there last June, and is back by popular demand.

On a parlor-turned-performance-space set, lead character and former music teacher Hazel Hunt (played by Susan Wefel) hosts the acts she'll air on WGAL using a transmitter she receives as a retirement gift. The mostly female cast records commercials, sings and reads.

"It's so easy to be collaborative, and it's been a lot of fun because it's so femalecentric," says Reed.

There is one male character, though—Newton Buchanan plays O.B. Abbott, the guy who tries to shut Hazel's operation down. His interactions with the ladies provide much of the show's comedic thrust. Reed admits that when Buchanan's not onstage, the testosterone-free rehearsals can be "a little bit like girls getting together for tea."