Fort Collins' Rabbit Hole is all ears . . . and imagination
Lisa Bornstein
The visuals of this theater company are normally pretty slight. Non-existent, even. Rabbit Hole Radio Theatre enters through the ears and comes to life in the mind.
Today, though, eyes will come into play as Rabbit Hole gives a live performance of the final episode of its current series, Mythologica. The show will then be broadcast at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on KRFC-FM (88.9).
Mythologica is Rabbit Hole's third 13-part series in two years. It got a major boost in 2005 when the National Endowment for the Arts gave it a $10,000 challenge grant, covering half the year's budget.
The radio theater is an offshoot of Fort Collins' OpenStage Theatre, which was looking for a new project when Dave and Teri Robison stepped forward with the idea of a radio theater program.
While living in Illinois, Dave Robison had worked on a similar project, but it was reel-to-reel and expensive. The advent of digital recording made the concept feasible for a small, all-volunteer group. Each season has brought in more than 200 volunteers, from performers to engineers to writers for the original stories.
"We accept everyone, regardless of their age or their experience," Teri Robison says. "We've had a writer tearfully thank us because he always wanted to be published but never believed it would happen."
The first season, an episodic science fiction adventure that began in January of 2004, was called Portals. Thirteen months later, Rabbit Hole introduced Major Arcana, an anthology series with self-contained stories. Writers based each story around the cards in a tarot deck. A murder mystery, for example, represented the death card.
Mythologica seeks to dramatize ancient myths from around the world, staying away from more familiar Greek and Roman sources.
"We just came up with some wonderful, wonderful stories bringing the gods and the minions to life," Teri Robison says.
The episodes were held together by introductions from an older man and foster-home girl talking on a park bench. This weekend's episode finally tells their story in an original myth.
"It's the resolution of, who are these two people?" Robison says.
Although the radio station only broadcasts through northern Colorado, an additional audience of up to 1,000 a month has listened to episodes on the organization's Web site (www.rabbitholeradio.org.).
This weekend's episode may be the last fresh one for a while. The next series probably will be a children's story with talking animals, but won't be broadcast until 2008. In the meantime, Rabbit Hole plans to market the three completed series, with each series sold as a four-CD set.
"Radio theater stimulates the imagination," Teri Robison says. "It's great fun to have these season finale celebrations because people have been listening to the episodes and then they come in and see the actors who've been performing and say, 'Oh, that's not at all what I pictured! I thought he'd be taller! I thought she'd be blond!' "
Rabbit Hole Radio Theatre
• When and where: Season Finale Celebration: 6 p.m. today at Avogadro's Number Restaurant, 605 S. Mason St., Fort Collins.
• Cost: $20
• Information: 1-970-686-2414
About the program
An offshoot of OpenStage Theatre Company in Fort Collins, Rabbit Hole Radio Theatre broadcasts original radio plays.
• First broadcast: Jan. 25, 2004
• Annual budget: $20,000
• Number involved: 200 volunteers
• Listeners: Across Northern Colorado and also more than 1,000 listeners a month on the Internet at: www.rabbitholeradio. org.
• Season closing broadcast: 4:30 p.m. Sunday, KRFC-FM (88.9)
Lisa Bornstein is the theater critic. Bornsteinl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5101
About Lisa Bornstein
News theater critic Lisa Bornstein was previously the arts and entertainment editor for the Albuquerque Tribune, and has covered the arts in Jerusalem, Chicago and New York. In 1998, the American Association of Sunday and Features Editor named her a first-place winner for arts criticism. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Lisa Bornstein
The visuals of this theater company are normally pretty slight. Non-existent, even. Rabbit Hole Radio Theatre enters through the ears and comes to life in the mind.
Today, though, eyes will come into play as Rabbit Hole gives a live performance of the final episode of its current series, Mythologica. The show will then be broadcast at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on KRFC-FM (88.9).
Mythologica is Rabbit Hole's third 13-part series in two years. It got a major boost in 2005 when the National Endowment for the Arts gave it a $10,000 challenge grant, covering half the year's budget.
The radio theater is an offshoot of Fort Collins' OpenStage Theatre, which was looking for a new project when Dave and Teri Robison stepped forward with the idea of a radio theater program.
While living in Illinois, Dave Robison had worked on a similar project, but it was reel-to-reel and expensive. The advent of digital recording made the concept feasible for a small, all-volunteer group. Each season has brought in more than 200 volunteers, from performers to engineers to writers for the original stories.
"We accept everyone, regardless of their age or their experience," Teri Robison says. "We've had a writer tearfully thank us because he always wanted to be published but never believed it would happen."
The first season, an episodic science fiction adventure that began in January of 2004, was called Portals. Thirteen months later, Rabbit Hole introduced Major Arcana, an anthology series with self-contained stories. Writers based each story around the cards in a tarot deck. A murder mystery, for example, represented the death card.
Mythologica seeks to dramatize ancient myths from around the world, staying away from more familiar Greek and Roman sources.
"We just came up with some wonderful, wonderful stories bringing the gods and the minions to life," Teri Robison says.
The episodes were held together by introductions from an older man and foster-home girl talking on a park bench. This weekend's episode finally tells their story in an original myth.
"It's the resolution of, who are these two people?" Robison says.
Although the radio station only broadcasts through northern Colorado, an additional audience of up to 1,000 a month has listened to episodes on the organization's Web site (www.rabbitholeradio.org.).
This weekend's episode may be the last fresh one for a while. The next series probably will be a children's story with talking animals, but won't be broadcast until 2008. In the meantime, Rabbit Hole plans to market the three completed series, with each series sold as a four-CD set.
"Radio theater stimulates the imagination," Teri Robison says. "It's great fun to have these season finale celebrations because people have been listening to the episodes and then they come in and see the actors who've been performing and say, 'Oh, that's not at all what I pictured! I thought he'd be taller! I thought she'd be blond!' "
Rabbit Hole Radio Theatre
• When and where: Season Finale Celebration: 6 p.m. today at Avogadro's Number Restaurant, 605 S. Mason St., Fort Collins.
• Cost: $20
• Information: 1-970-686-2414
About the program
An offshoot of OpenStage Theatre Company in Fort Collins, Rabbit Hole Radio Theatre broadcasts original radio plays.
• First broadcast: Jan. 25, 2004
• Annual budget: $20,000
• Number involved: 200 volunteers
• Listeners: Across Northern Colorado and also more than 1,000 listeners a month on the Internet at: www.rabbitholeradio. org.
• Season closing broadcast: 4:30 p.m. Sunday, KRFC-FM (88.9)
Lisa Bornstein is the theater critic. Bornsteinl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5101
About Lisa Bornstein
News theater critic Lisa Bornstein was previously the arts and entertainment editor for the Albuquerque Tribune, and has covered the arts in Jerusalem, Chicago and New York. In 1998, the American Association of Sunday and Features Editor named her a first-place winner for arts criticism. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.
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