Michael Disher, the artistic director of Center Stage at the Southampton Arts Center, and Joe Landry, a prolific playwright, have collaborated to produce numerous radio plays set in 1940s radio studios with period props and costumes.
When the two started readapting F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” Disher questioned setting it in the ’40s. “I did a little research,” he said, “and found out that the very first radio drama aired in 1924. It was called ‘A Comedy of Danger’ and played on BBC. ‘Gatsby’ was written in 1925, so it fits right into the Roaring Twenties.”
Disher will direct the production, which will take place at the arts center Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7, and Sunday at 2.
Fitzgerald’s novel, narrated by Nick Carraway and set in a fictional town on Long Island, is the story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy woman now married to Tom Buchanan. After Gatsby and Daisy renew their relationship, Tom finds out, and revelations and tragedy ensue.
While Gatsby’s parties figure prominently in the novel, Disher said the production doesn’t focus that much on them. “As far as I’m concerned, the whole Jazz Age and the flapper era and all of that was really masking an awful lot of very serious undercurrents. It’s not this big glitzy party, even though it is there. But it’s a very cosmetic layer to what was actually happening within that decade,” including unrest, poverty, organized crime, and unchecked power and privilege among the affluent. “See any parallels?” Disher asked.
In addition to the period microphones, costumes, and other accoutrements of a 1920s radio studio, “The music is one of the great joys of taking it into that decade, because the music is now in the public domain.” Jack Seabury, the production’s music director, incorporated many songs from the period into the underscoring, and there are a few vocals interspersed.
The cast includes Patty Greene Brockman, Susan Cincotta, Thom D’Angelo, Tim Ferris, Vincenzo James Harty, Alyssa Kelly, Michael Ponella, Seabury, Michaal Lyn Schepps, Elizabeth Wyld, and Tom Gregory as Gatsby.
The creative team has lighting and sound by Ken Blessing, set design by Joey Giovingo, projections by Landry and Blessing, and production photography by Dane DuPuis.
Tickets are $25, $20 for members, and student and group rates are available by calling 631-283-0967.
