Student-run play to debut
Curtain set to rise on ‘Talk Radio’ today
By Matt Potter
Staff Reporter

“Talk Radio,” a play about a controversial radio personality, opens today and will run through Friday in the Studio Theatre.

The play tells the story of radio host, Barry Champlain, who makes fun of his late-night callers. Champlain’s show is going into national syndication and with his wild antics, the show’s producer is afraid Champlain will offend the sponsors. The producer’s worries only fuel Champlain’s fire.

Michael Truly, who plays Barry Champlain, said it’s a lot of fun to collaborate with his peers in a play directed, produced and acted out by students.

“Instead of working with TCU faculty and staff, we’re working with people that we go to class with everyday,” said Truly, a senior theater major. “It’s great. It’s different than most of the other productions we do during the semester.”

Eleanor Burkett, who plays Associate Producer Linda MacArthur, said the students maintained a high level of professionalism.

“Although this production is student-run, we did it with the same kind of attitude and attention to detail as if (it) were run by faculty,” Burkett said.

The play is directed by Scott Rickels, a senior theater and radio-TV-film major.

“This is the largest studio show ever done at TCU,” Rickels said. “We’ve been rehearsing five days a week for the past five weeks in preparation for this production.”

The play will be performed in the smaller, more intimate Studio Theatre, located behind the University Theatre on West Cantey Street. The play is 90-minutes long, with no intermission.

Burkett, a senior theater major, said the audience gets a more interesting view of the actors and the sets in the theater because of the smaller space.

“In the Studio Theatre there is a more unique set-up. Parts of the audience are on the same level as the actors,” Burkett said. “You can really see the different dynamics between characters.”

“Talk Radio” was written by Eric Bogosian and was adapted in 1998 into a movie directed by Oliver Stone. Bogosian is an established writer and actor and has received awards for his solo plays as well as his screen adaptation of “Talk Radio.”