The Hairy Ape
Bay Area Radio Drama, 1989
Executive Producer: Eric Bauersfeld     Director: Jose Quintero
Sound Design: Randy Thom     Artistic Director: Travis Bogard
Technical Assistance: Jim McKee
 

Yank - George Dzundza Paddy - Eric Christmas Long - Christopher Grove Mildred - Deborah May

Aunt - Mercedes Shirley Engineer - Steve Barr Secretary - Bill Wanton Frank - Larry Drake

 

The Bay Area Radio Drama Production

The Hairy Ape entirely lives up to expectations and despite the strict parameters of radio drama (or perhaps because of them) it is the most haunting and lucid presentation of this work ever achieved.

Designer Randy Thom, has miraculously produced O'Neill's desired "brazen metallic quality" in the actor's throats. It is the audiophonic style that lifts it from the dreary level of operatic realism to which it so often sinks on the stage. Quintero has stylized the ship's crew in such a way that they seem to be reverberations of Yank's sensibility.

The greatest compliment to a radio play is an overwhelming desire to visualize it. Not because the radio interpretation is lacking but precisely because it is so compelling. It is like a séance that successfully makes contact with the spirit of Eugene O'Neill.

Charles Marowitz, LA Herald Examiner