This time of year finds many theaters and performing arts groups producing holiday fare, from “A Christmas Carol” to “Black Nativity” to “The Nutcracker”, to more tongue-in-cheek performances like “Holiday Hell: The Curse of Perry Williams.”
This year, Next Act Theatre’s holiday offering is a world premiere, written by local theater luminaries John Kishline and Edward Morgan. “UnsilentNight” stars another prominent local theater name, David Cesarini as radio DJ Frank Willis.
"We're set in 1953 Milwaukee at a small radio studio... Our guy on the air is Frank Willis, and he fancies himself, he's pushing the envelope for the time and he's a little bit bridled by the management and the expectations," says Cesarini.
For him, the subject of the production plays into his own lifelong interest in the radio arts. "As a kid I was fascinated with radio, it was my link to the outside. Listening in on the happenings from other cities, other people, places that I'd like to be that are anywhere but where I was at the time," says Cesarini.
The radio station is not only the setting, but also a device to move the narrative forward. "The thing about radio is, ideally, it's about telling the truth or the opportunity exists to sort of tell the truth on a large scale," says Morgan. "And the redemption that comes about through this play and the way the two plots ultimately are tied together is through telling the truth and through the radio."
The production celebrates 20 years of collaboration among the three theater stalwarts. The preview of "Unsilent Night" is Thursday, October 17. The play opens Friday and runs through December 11.
