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Something to Remember Us By Recorded May 8 & 9, 2000 Listen to the program via
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In Memory of Carl Reiser
June 17, 1983 - June 15, 2000
Their Moment In the Spotlight -- by Ted Kneebone
Last year it was Red Badge of Courage. A rush job just a few weeks before school was to adjourn for the summer. This year it was going to be different.
Left to Right: Billy McCue, Toby Syhre (face hidden), Tommy Fuhrer, Carl Reiser, and Conrad Kranzler (back to camera) Well, it was -- sort of. It was still squeezed into the last few days of school, but the play was different. Not an adaptation of a novel or someone else's story.
I decided to let the students play themselves. And so they did.
It was to be the first time a radio play had been acted and recorded in my new home recording studio. We rehearsed at the school in Mrs. Holcomb's classroom for a week or so. Only the last few rehearsals were with the entire cast. Seems that when we have a holiday recess at the School, some kids don't make it back on time.
Left to Right: Toby Syhre, Tommy Fuhrer, Carl Reiser In order to assure that each kid's lines were something he would say naturally, there were many rewrites. "Now if we find a line that you have trouble reading or that just isn't 'you', then we will rewrite it."
I started with about three plots, none of which really was the right one.
Then, one day, a visiting former student, Kevin Puetz of Rapid City, wanted to go back to Simmons Junior High to visit his former teachers. He did and while there, he wondered where their time capsule had been buried. It was finally found...
And that provided me with a plot. The students in Mrs. Holcomb's room would suggest that they do a time capsule in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the SD School for the Blind & Visually Handicapped.
Left to Right: Derek and Wade Turner The plot called for a few more players, so we invited Superintendent Kaiser and Principal Krogstrand to join the cast. And we needed two younger kids. We needed sound effects. Realizing that usually the best "sfx" are the "live" variety, we only used one recorded one. And I chose music that fit the story, including a cut from a CD by Smash Mouth.
Recalling a radio program that was done at the School in 1983 and 1984, I slightly re-wrote the introduction and closing, and called it "A Kid's World." But somehow that didn't sound right, so a program series called "Kids of the New Century" was born.
Just time enough for some of the kids of the School to have their moment in the spotlight!
Left to Right: Back Row: Mrs. Lela Holcomb, Tommy Fuhrer, Toby Syhre, BJ VanDam, Ted Kneebone, Mark Krogstrand (principal). Front row: Conrad Kranzler, Billy McCue, Derek Turner, Carl Reiser, and Wade Turner. The Cast (all of whom played themselves):
Tommy Fuhrer
Conrad Kranzler
Billy McCue
Carl Reiser
Toby Syhre
Derek Turner
Wade Turner
BJ VanDam
Mrs. Lela Holcomb
Superintendent Marje Kaiser
Principal Mark Krogstrand
Jim Rentz (sfx of digging)
Ted Kneebone, narrator & engineer
