Clearly, radio theatre is not victoriawinters' cup of tea, but I thought it might be worthwhile to point out a couple of things.
Regarding the sound artist who participated in this summer's performance of
Vengeance at Collinwood in Hollywood -- the Festival was
very lucky to acquire Tony Palermo's services. His work is highly regarded in this field, and he has provided sound services for various groups including L.A. Theatre Works and the Pasadena Playhouse. He has also made it his mission to share what he knows about audio theatre via his own web site, which is located
here. You may not like the way he looks as he performs, but Palermo
is one of the best at what he does.
Regarding the cost of LATW tickets -- it's very true that they don't use the ticket money for sets or costumes or elaborate lighting. It is, after all, radio theatre. That's not what it's supposed to be about.
Back in the mid-80's, when LATW first began performing radio theatre, Robert Osborne reported on them for
CBS This Morning. I've got the clip on video somewhere. In it, the actors clearly state that the purpose of forming the company was to allow them to experiment with material without the long rehearsal periods and other time commitments that would normally be required for a stage production. Sets, lighting, and costumes are simply not what they're about. Throw that into the mix, and you wouldn't see a lot of the actors who have full schedules with television and film commitments.
So where does the money go? LATW has always been very involved in outreach programs. They provide copies of a selection of their recordings for free to school libraries, and they provide the educational materials to accompany them -- lesson plans, classroom activities, etc. They also provide copies of their programs to public libraries in rural and underserved areas as well as to libraries with programs for the visually impaired. They also run the Arts and Children Project, which provides arts education opportunities for incarcerated juveniles in Los Angeles. (If I recall correctly, this was their original sole purpose.)
True, LATW does receive grant money from programs such as the National Endowment from the Arts, and they also request donations, but the revenue from ticket sales for their performances is very important for their community programs.
If you'd prefer to see a performance with full sets, elaborate lighting, costumes, and actors who know all their lines, then you definitely shouldn't waste time attending a radio theatre performance because that's not what you're going to get.
