The lights were bright in the Pawling Public Radio studio on East Main Street on Sunday evening, February 24th, as friends gathered to celebrate the world premier production of A Human Touch.
PPR’s Theatre Hour presented this perceptive and sensitive drama written by Pawling playwright Jude Albert at 6 p.m. An audience of thirty gathered to listen to the radio broadcast, much in the way people gathered around their radios to listen to their favorite shows in the 1940’s.
A Human Touch was developed at The Simon Studio in New York under the direction of Roger Hendricks Simon, and was chosen as a finalist in the Samuel French Short Play Festival. The story is about a street wise teen who volunteers at the neonatal intensive care unit of a Westchester hospital.
This three character drama unfolds as relationships are forged between Janessa, the mother of a prematurely born son; Nurse Phillips, the head nurse of this hospital wing, and Christopher Anthony Thomas, (CAT) the volunteer. The plot is built on a real life therapy used with premature babies called Kangaroo Care, where babies are held close to the chest with skin to skin contact and then rocked.
Kathie Freston directed with Ryan Katzer as Christopher Anthony Thomas, Susan Pieratti as Nurse Eleanor Phillips, and Geri Munnick as Mrs. Janessa Everett. Andrew Nathans did a fantastic job engineering the recording and handling the technical side.
PPR’s Theatre Hour airs Sundays at 6 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7 p.m., offering selections from the golden age of radio. Theatre Hour features episodes of dramas, westerns, comedies and mysteries, presenting stories from the suspense series, Gunsmoke, Theatre of Romance, Lux Theatre, Campbell Playhouse, and the Bing Crosby Show to name just a few.
The Theatre Hour will broadcast A Human Touch again on Sunday, April 14th and Wednesday, April 17th. You can listen to the Theatre Hour broadcast by visiting www.PawlingPublicRadio.org and selecting the “Listen Live” option.
From left to Right: Jude Albert, Susan Pieratti, Geri Munnick, Andrew Nathans, Kathy Freston
