Radio Free Emerson Feb. 17-26

When a beloved radio talk-show host dies, his son highjacks the station’s memorial broadcast to preach an inflammatory reading of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance.

So begins Radio Free Emerson, a loose adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck by contemporary playwright Paul Grellong. This month, Washington University’s Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present Grellong’s witty interrogation of truth and its consequences in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Shows begin at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17 and 18, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19. Performances continue the following weekend, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24 and 25, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26.

In addition, Grellong will participate in a pre-show talk at 7:15 p.m. Feb. 25.

Tickets are $15, or $10 for students, seniors and WUSTL faculty and staff. Tickets are available through the Edison Theatre Box Office and all MetroTix outlets. The A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd.

For more information, call (314) 935-6543.

Radio Free Emerson

Set in Rhode Island in 1999, the story begins with the death of Edward Gregory, a popular Providence broadcaster and self-help guru. His estranged son, Al, has spent the last several years on a lobster boat in Maine, interpreting and evangelizing Self-Reliance to crewmates, but returns home for Edward’s funeral and an on-air farewell.

When his eulogy devolves into a philosophical rant, Al strikes an unexpected spark with listeners and inherits his father’s time slot. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Al’s unvarnished truth-telling provokes dire consequences for those around him — particularly Henry, an old friend and enthusiastic disciple; and Gina, Henry’s wife and Al’s reluctant producer.

“Al preaches an extreme version of Emerson’s ideas,” says Pannill Camp, assistant professor in the PAD. “He encourages callers to defy social conventions, to take liberties with their marriages and personal relationships, and to be guided only by their own consciences.

“Al is absolutely confident in his own worldview,” Camp says. “He doesn’t hesitate to tell other people exactly what they should be doing.”

Camp met Grellong while directing The Wild Duck at Brown University in 1999. (The playwright, then an undergraduate, co-starred as patriarch Hialmer Ekdal.) He notes that, despite updates of setting and century, Grellong’s retelling retains significant “Ibsen DNA.”

“There’s a similar dramatic structure,” Camp says. In both plays, “a young couple in a fundamentally solid relationship is confronted by an external force representing an idealistic philosophy.”

But, he adds, “One of the striking things about Radio Free Emerson is the timely examination of the theme of unrestrained liberty. Emerson’s legacy goes to the core of American individualism and American exceptionalism” — issues particularly freighted during political primary season.

Still, perhaps the thorniest question the play raises is not partisan but interpretive. Does Al get Emerson wrong, or — even more provocatively — does he get Emerson right?

“Al has his own agenda, and his reading of Emerson is terribly reductive,” Camp says. “He also seems obsessed with the idea that people are unhappy because they deny themselves certain liberties, especially in their sexual lives, which is not something that concerned Emerson.

“But on the other hand, Al’s views, and what they say about American politics, do speak to the logical consequences of an extreme philosophy of self-reliance.”

Cast and crew

The cast of 10 is led by junior Mitch Eagles as Al, senior Malcolm Foley as Henry and senior Sasha Diamond as Gina.

Also featured are senior Joanna McNurlen as Marilyn, Al’s mother, and senior Randy Brachman as James, the Gregory family physician.

Sophomore Jack Ritten is Freddie, the station engineer. Junior Eric Gustafson and freshman Clare Mulligan are Chris and Carrie, a young engaged couple. Rounding out the cast are freshman Max Bieber and senior Natalie Callaghan as radio callers.

Set design is by Robert Morgan, senior lecturer in drama. Costumes are by Sallie Durbin, costume shop supervisor. Lighting and sound are by senior Artem Kreimer and sophomore Satcher Hsieh.

Junior Melissa Freilich is fight choreographer. Senior Ashley Henderson is stage manager.