Campus Celebrity: Ryan Hill (Co-Director of Live Radio Play of O Brother Where Art Thou)

You’ve probably seen him onstage in numerous theater productions, doing standup comedy at the UPub, or even caricatured near the graffiti wall in Central. The man, the myth, the legend: Ryan Hill. His newest project, and his last before graduating, is a live radio play of O Brother Where Art Thou. It was a fantastic movie, the soundtrack was an amazing record, but let’s see how O Brother Where Art Thou fares as a live radio play when it hits the Curtain Theatre at UMass in early May. For those of you who don’t know what I mean when I call it a live radio play, it means that they’re taking an adaptation of the script and using only sound rather than visuals to tell the story. Think of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, for a modern equivalent. Directing this project are Hill and his partner Dan Kadish, and I had a chance to sit down with Hill to ask him a little bit about the project.

HC: So, why did you choose O Brother Where Art Thou?

RH: Well, I absolutely loved the movie since the first time I saw it. It’s got a fantastic soundtrack and great acting, and I thought that it would make an amazing stage show; it kind of amazed me that it hadn’t been done before. I talked to my co-director Dan Kadish about it, and he said ‘let’s go for it!’ After that, we spent much of this year adapting the screenplay to be a live radio play.

HC: Why did you choose to make it a live radio play?

RH: We originally wanted to make this a full production, with full tech and costumes and everything like that, but we also found that we were both too busy to make that realistically happen. We came upon the idea of a radio play as we were talking one night trying to get this all together with the screenplay. We were immediately on board, and we just switched a few things around with the script to make it work.

HC: How did you start working with Dan Kadish?

RH: I’ve known him since freshman year, and we’d worked together on a bunch of stuff before. When I told him that I was putting on a production of O Brother Where Art Thou?, he was very enthusiastic about the idea, and we’ve been through every stage of the process together. He loves this movie as much as I do, and is really knowledgeable about what we need to do to make this the best production possible. I’m really happy to have him on board.

HC: What could the audience expect?

RH: Hopefully to have a good time. I don’t remember the last time a live radio play was being played on campus, so this will at least be a change of pace for the people here.

HC: Last but not least, when could people see this fine production?

RH: We’re putting on shows on May 2nd at 7:30pm and on May 3rd at 2pm, and they’ll both be in the Curtain Theatre in the FAC. 

Now you’ve gotten to know a bit about what Hill, an upstanding young thespian, is up to nowadays. Make sure you go see this play on either May 2nd or 3rd, you’ll be glad you did.

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