| FT-52626-04 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Marguerite Hailey Rippy | Classics, Controversy and the Masses: Orson Welles on the Radio | 6/1/2004 - 8/31/2004 | $5,000.00 | Marguerite | Hailey | Rippy | | | | Marymount University | Arlington | VA | 22207-4299 | USA | 2004 | Arts, General | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 5000 | 0 | 5000 | 0 |
This project examines the 1938 radio plays of Orson Welles with two goals: to recover the plays as evidence of an aesthetic bridge between his work in theater and film, and to show the roots of his cinematic narratives in radio. The radio plays illustrate Welles's concepts of narrative, self-promotion, and communal performance. In the plays, Welles explores topics such as fascism and racism, using mass performance to provoke cultural conversation. His performances resonated with an anxious public, transforming him into an American griot--an honorary storyteller of national experience. The plays reveal the cultural inheritance radio offers American cinema, and the project fits the We the People initiative. |