KPFK's Presents Two-Hour Holiday Radio Drama Special

KPFK Radio's Arts in Review, Los Angeles's longest-running radio showcase on live theater and cabaret, presents its annual Holiday Drama Marathon, featuring the AIR Repertory Players under the direction of Irene Arranga, highlighted by the premiere of the What Child Is This?

Also airing are encore presentations of The Christmas Eve Truce, performed 106 years after the original World War I battlefield truce; All Is Calm, All is Bright: the story of 'Silent Night'; Christmas in Tinseltown, the story of 'White Christmas'; and the 16th annual concert presentation of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, featuring actor Al Alu. Also featured is the holiday music of Al Jarreau, the Koto Keys (keyboardist Marilyn Harris & koto virtuoso Mara Paurl) and local musician/singer Jane Fuller. Hosted by entertainment journalist Julio Martinez, the programs airs Friday, Dec 25 (1-3pm), on KPFK 90.7.FM, streamed live worldwide on kpfk.org.

What Child Is This? chronicles the life of William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898), a British poet who worked most of his adult life as a broker for a marine insurance company in Glasgow, toiling tirelessly to provide for his wife and seven children. But when business was done, his mind filled with thoughts, ideas; rhymes and hymns came into his mind and he was compelled to write them down. A collection of his writings came to the attention hymnologist Henry Ramsden Bramley and organist/composer Sir John Stainer, who in 1871, were attempting to select 22 new hymns for the second edition of their popular Christmas Carols, New and Old. This Arts in Review radio play tells the tale of how one of Dix's rhymes was selected for the collection, even if initially it was source of some controversy.

A Child's Christmas in Wales was recorded by the Al Alu in 2003 at the studios of KPFK. Al Alu passed away on December 2, 2014; but the airing Alu's performance of this Dylan Thomas classic will continue to air as an annual Arts in Review Christmas Day tradition.

The AIR Repertory Players features the talents of Irene Arranga, Al Alu, Linnea Liu Dakin, Kevin Delaney, Lauri Fraser, Richard Heft, Cullen Kirkland, Ed Krieger, Richard M. Johnson, Lauren Lewis, Gigi Perreau, Nicholas Read and Estela Volturo. Other Arts in Review radio dramatizations include Che and Allen, To All a Good Night, The Nutcracker's Journey, Keeping Christmas Well, O Henry's The Gift of the Magi, Christmas at the Algonquin, One Horse Open Sleigh, Churchill & Roosevelt at the White House and Mark Twain's The Diary of Adam and Eve.

Broadcasting since 1987, Arts in Review regularly airs Fridays at 2pm, over KPFK (90.7FM), Pacifica Radio for the Greater Los Angeles area, in Santa Barbara (98.7FM) and streamed live around the world on kpfk.org.

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