Saturday night, Indiana Public Radio general manager Marcus Jackman looked out into the audience at Pruis Hall and, with a laugh, said, "Maybe Dickens is something you know you should've read in school. And maybe you did."
IPR's performance of "A Christmas Carol" catered to both Charles Dickens enthusiasts and those casually familiar the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge alike.
IPR's version of "A Christmas Carol" was performed for a live audience and was also simulcast for a radio audience.
Before the show, IPR's operations and classical musical coordinator Steven Turpin gave the live audience the history of Dickens' holiday story.
Turpin's lecture then gave way to a cast of 17 dressed mostly in '40s garb sitting in a semi-circle around three microphones.
Sound effects were of the utmost importance to director Benjamin Lancaster and executive producer Marcus Jackman. Lancaster sat center stage and gave directions to both the actors and the 12 musicians on hand.
The woodwind, string and brass ensemble helped create what musical director Matthew Hooper called "esoteric" ghost sounds, while percussionist Nathan Shew was responsible for bells and mystical chimes.
The rest of the sound effects were created by props. Coconuts simulated horses' hooves and a drumhead with BBs was used for rain sounds. A miniature door, built by sound director Brian Boswell, was used to make the sounds of characters entering and exiting buildings.
The novelty of the show brought spectators from around the Midwest.
Kevin Masrud and his wife came from Wisconsin to watch the show with their daughter and son-in-law, who is a graduate student at Ball State University. Masrud said he appreciated seeing how a radio-drama is created.
"I liked just seeing how the characters can play the character even though they're not acting the part on stage," he said. "They're just reading the part — but they can really get into the character and they did it so well."
That's precisely the special insight Jackman said IPR wanted to share with this program.
"We love to do stuff like this for the community, in the community," he said.
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