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NBC BEST PLAYS: The Petrified Forest, originally aired 9-20-1953; remade for Sonic Summerstock Playhouse 2023 by the Narada Radio Company
In the midst of the Great Depression, Alan Squier, a failed writer, now a disillusioned, penniless drifter, wanders into a somewhat frowzy roadside diner in the remote town of Black Mesa, Arizona, at the edge of the Petrified Forest. Here he meets owner Jason Maple, his daughter Gabrielle, and Gramp, Jason's father, who regales anyone who will listen with stories of his adventures in the Old West with such characters as Billy the Kid. Eventually the diner is overrun by gangsters, headed up by Duke Mantee, who has escaped prison and is being chased down by the law.
The Petrified Forest was a 1935 stage play by Robert E. Sherwood, made into a 1936 film that starred the principal actors of the stage play, Leslie Howard (Squier) and Humphrey Bogart (Mantee).
CAST:
Darren Rockhold as ANNOUNCER
Les Marsden as GRAMP MAPLE
Gino C. Vianelli as BOZE HERTZLINGER
Bobby Vela as the TELEGRAPH LINEMAN
Paul Arbisi as JASON MAPLE
Carole Krohn as GABBY MAPLE
Ebony Rose as PAULA
Chuck Wilson as MR. CHISHOLM
Stephanie Stearns Dulli as MRS. CHISHOLM
Carl Thomas as JOSEPH
David Ian as JACKIE and the RADIO VOICE
Dana Gonsalves as DUKE MANTEE
Duane Noch as RUBY
Tre' Minor as SLIM
Frank Guglielmelli as the LEGION COMMANDER
Pete Lutz as ALAN SQUIER
Music was sourced from the public domain.
Recorded over Zoom in July 2023, with actors from Texas, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Originally released 8/13/23 on the Mutual Audio Network as a feature of the 2023 Sonic Summerstock Playhouse festival.