James (Jason Maddy) pursues Frances (Amanda Sitton) in \u201cThe Voice of the Prairie.\u201d (Courtesy Aaron Rumley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Although many are not old enough to recall the early days of radio personally, theatergoers may have a nodding acquaintance with its history through plays such as Alan Sorkin\u2019s \u201cThe Farnsworth Invention,\u201d a Page to Stage workshop at La Jolla Playhouse in 2006, and John Olive\u2019s \u201cVoice of the Prairie,\u201d seen locally at the Old Globe in 1988.<\/p>\nWhile Sorkin concerns himself with the invention itself and the contention over the inventors, Olive gives playgoers some idea of early radio\u2019s small-town beginnings.<\/p>\n
Leon is a radio salesman with a shortwave broadcasting device. He hires David, a Nebraska farmer, to tell tales of his itinerant youth, first with his storytelling grandfather and then with a blind girl named Frankie. Whether these tales are tall or true, David is a big hit in rural America, and Leon sells plenty of radios. <\/p>\n
The action flashes between the present, with Leon and David, and the past, in which Frankie runs away from an abusive father and rides the rails with Davey. The teenagers fall in love with and are dependent upon one another until chance separates them. Davey looks for Frankie, but being blind, she cannot look for him, and so they remain separated until fate, network radio and David\u2019s broadcasting fame bring change.<\/p>\n
Olive\u2019s romantic play is spiced up by his device of using only three actors to portray all the characters, young and old. Luminous local actor Amanda Sitton portrays both Frankie and the adult Frances, who teaches school in Kansas City. Frances\u2019 suitor is James, an asthmatic man of the cloth, played by Jason Maddy, who also portrays the young David, whom she knew as Davey, and Leon. Appealing and accomplished stage actor David Meyers makes his North Coast Repertory debut as the grown-up David. He and Maddy look enough alike to incarnate the same man. Sitton brings Frankie\u2019s effervescent, optimistic young woman to her older self.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Voice of the Prairie\u201d is enriched by husband-and-wife co-directors Lynne Griffin and Sean Sullivan, who played Frankie and Davey in the Old Globe\u2019s 1988 production, directed by Thomas Bullard. They fell in love during the run of the show and were wed soon after.<\/p>\n
Imbued with love and nostalgia for a more simple and agrarian America, the production is suitable for all ages and just perfect for the entire family. The acting is outstanding and so are the production values, including Sullivan\u2019s original country music, Marty Burnett\u2019s unfussy hayfield-backed set, M. Scott Grabau\u2019s lighting, Renetta Lloyd\u2019s costumes and Chris Luessmann\u2019s excellent sound design. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Voice of the Prairie\u201d
\nthrough June 20
\nNorth Coast Repertory Theatre
\n987-D Lomas Santa Fe Dr.
\nSolana Beach
\nnorthcoastrep.org<\/a>
\n(858) 481-1055
\nWednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.
\nSundays, 2 and 7 p.m.
\nTickets $37-$41<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Charlene Baldridge SDUN Theatre Critic Although many are not old enough to recall the early days of radio personally, theatergoers may have a nodding acquaintance with its history through plays such as Alan Sorkin\u2019s \u201cThe Farnsworth Invention,\u201d a Page to Stage workshop at La Jolla Playhouse in 2006, and John Olive\u2019s \u201cVoice of the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":243554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Voice of the Prairie\u2019 brings back love for simple America","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\u2018Voice](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Voice-1.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0377\\"")
<\/a>