Parson’s Nose Radio Theater

"The emperor loved his fancy clothes,and perhaps himself, so much! Too much! He loved his fancy clothes more than he loved his people! (Gasp!)" The classic 19th Century story by a Danish "National Treasure", Hans Christian Andersen.  Adapted by Lance Davis. Performed by PNT Company members Mary Chalon, Jill Rogosheske, Barry Gordon, James Calvert and John Rafter Lee. Sound by L...

The Summoning of Every Man (40 min.)  "Death! Thou comest when I had thee least in mind!" In the Middle Ages, life was spare and fleeting. Cautionary Christian lessons of Salvation, and stories of the glory of Eternal Life were taught to the illiterate, but intelligent populace, not only in sermons, but also in the comforting symbolism of liturgy, stained glass windows, and Morality and Mystery pl...

O Henry's romantic, 1906 New York story of the innocent and hopeful Miss Leeson, who takes the magical Skylight Room in Mrs. Parker's boarding house. Adapted for radio by Lance Davis. Starring Jill Rogosheske as Mrs. Parker and Marisa Chandler as Ellie. Sound by David Bennett. 15 minutes.  Do listen to all 56 episodes of Parson's Nose Radio Theater at www.parsonsnose.org, where you can...

Hans Christian Andersen's funny, poignant story of a little fir tree who forgot to live in the moment.  A perfect story for the holidays - a time to reflect on how fortunate we are. Adapted by Lance Davis. Starring Taylor Hawthorne as the Fir Tree, featuring Mary Chalon and Lance Davis. Sound by David Bennett and Lance Davis. (15 minutes) For more about us, please go to www.parsonsnose.org. Tax de...

The legendary battle between the Devil and Daniel Webster, America's greatest jurist before a jury from...you know where. Story by Stephen Vincent Benet. Adapted by Lance Davis. Performed by PNT Company members Paul Perri, John Rafter Lee, James Calvert,Barry Gordon and John Harnagel. Sound by David Bennett. For more about us - and if you enjoy our work a sponsorship or donation would be great...

Charles Dickens wrote a series of humorous sketches about young couples. Here we have one we have all encountered. Adapted and performed by PNT Artistic Director Lance Davis. 14 minutes.

Anton Chekhov's incisive one-act comedy. A Cossack soldier. A country widow. A debt. "I'll bring her down like a chicken!". Starring Parson's Nose Company members Christina Carlisi, Barry Gordon and Lance Davis. Adapted by Lance Davis. Music by Thomas Peters. Sound engineering by Dave Bennett. 32 minutes.

Anton Chekhov, Russia's finest playwright, who gave us "The Seagull", "The Cherry Orchard" and "Uncle Vanya", also had a remarkable gift for comedy, as we hear in this one-act. Will Natalya and Lomov at last find true love? And for how long? Starring James Calvert, Marisa Chandler, and Lance Davis. Adapted by Lance Davis. Sound by Lance Davis and Dave Bennett. 22 minutes. For more Parson's Nose Ra...

American Kathrine Kressmann Taylor's chilling "correspondence" of two German art dealers, one in San Francisco and one in Munich, during the rise of Hitler. A remarkably prescient observation of the creeping engulfment of fascism. Starring Parson's Nose Company members, Tony nominee Barry Gordon and Paul Perri. Adapted by Lance Davis.

Tis a gift to be simple. John Galsworthy, the Nobel Prize winning playwright and novelist who gave us "The Forsyte Saga", tells the story of immigrant bootmakers in 19th Century London. Performed by PNT company member John Rafter Lee (Ken Follett audiobooks) Adaptation by Lance Davis. (20 min.)

Parson's Nose Radio Theater presents the most popular work of Charles Dickens, the most popular writer of Victorian England. At PNT we emphasize the wonderful descriptive language  - the bits you skipped over in high school - now brilliantly brought to life by narrators Barry Gordon and Mary Chalon and the PNT Players. Adapted by Lance Davis. Sound by David Bennett and Lance Davis. We especially t...

A delightful poem by Eugene Field (1850-1895), a nationally known Saint Louis/Chicago columnist, and also The Poet Laureate of Children for his work including "Wynken, Blynken and Nod", "The Duel" and "Little Boy Blue", written for his eight children. Performed by Peter Kovner. For more about us, for more podcasts, and / or to make a tax deductible donation, please go...

Moliere's comic 17th Century masterpiece. Stingy, old Harpagon marries off his children, Elise and Cleante, to save money, and arranges his own marriage to poor young Mariane. Can they team up with matchmaker Frosine and trusty servants LaFletch and Valere to overcome his wicked plans? Featuring PNT Players Mary Chalon, James Calvert, Gary Lamb, Heather Taylor, Mo Beatty, John Harnagel, Sean Y...

By Hoyt Hilsman. Was it a miscarriage? A short one-act play, part of an ongoing collection by Mr. Hilsman, "Political Rights and Wrongs" which also includes "The Librarian" and "The Subsitute". First presented in the "Parson's Nose New Play Series" in the Fall of 2022. Starring Mary Chalon and Heather Taylor. Produced and directed by Lance Davis. For mor...

Another episode of Hoyt Hilsman's collection "Political Rights and Wrongs". which premiered in Parson's Nose Theater's New Play Series in Fall 2022. Now in podcast form. A librarian is summoned before her school board to explain her decisions. Performed by PNT Company members Jill Rogosheske and Paul Perri. Directed and produced by Lance Davis. 10 minutes. For more about Parson's Nose, its podcast...

By PNT Resident Playwright Hoyt Hilsman. Premiering in the Parson's Nose "New Play Series" in November 2022. One of an ongoing series of "Political Plays" by Mr. Hilsman. Performed by PNT Players Jill Rogosheske and Paul Perri. Directed and produced by Lance Davis. 11 minutes. Brief adult language. For more podcasts, and more about Parson's Nose, please go to www.parsonsnose.org. Tax free donation...

How rarely we listen to the most audacious (and treasonous!) response to oppression in American History! 56 men met in cramped quarters in the hot, muggy, Philadelphia June of 1776. The windows were nailed shut lest spies report on their discussions.  They argued about taxation, slavery, big states vs. small states. The one mission that became clear was the need for independence from English tyran...

Tom Taylor's popular comic-melodrama, previously overshadowed by its connection to the assassination of America's beloved President, Abraham Lincoln , now "recalled to life" by the Parson's Nose Players: James Calvert, Christina Carlisi, Mary Chalon, Marisa Chandler, Paul Perri, John Harnagel, Jill Rogosheske, Heather Taylor, Barry Gordon and Lance Davis. Running time: 80 minutes. Pause whenever y...

Jean Giraudoux's modern fairy tale, written in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944. Speculators threaten to destroy the neighborhood, and all Paris, by drilling below for oil. Can the "little people" save their beloved Chaillot? A story of resistance, empowerment and hope. Starring the Parson's Nose Players, Mary Chalon as Countess Aurelia, Jill Rogosheske, Marisa Chandler, Heather Taylo...

Henry G. Lee was a poet, a South Pasadena High graduate, and a soldier in World War 2.  He was captured while defending the Bataan Peninsula and spent the war in a POW concentration camp. His poetry, found wrapped in canvas and buried beneath his tent, expresses the reality, the despair and the longing experienced by his men. He died in a Japanese "Hell Ship", bombed by American planes. 

For Black History Month. "You are a man, and so am I." In 1848, former slave Frederick Douglass published at letter to Thomas Auld, his former slave master, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his escape. The eloquence, power and dignity of this self-taught man proclaims his rightful place in the pantheon of American heroes. Parson's Nose believes it is our privilege and joy...

All those Irish beggar children. What's to be done? If you have a better solution, let's hear it. Jonathan Swift, Trinity College Dean, presents "a Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents and Country." Adapted and recorded by Lance Davis for Parson's Nose Radio Theater. 17 minutes. Also available at www.parsonsnose.org . It's rough sailing f...

We're so fortunate to have long time friends who coincidentally happen to be wonderful artists. Such is the case with Mr. Warren C. Bowles, a compatriot from University of Notre Dame, University of Minnesota, Angers France, and a founding member of the Mixed Blood Theater, actor, director, and teacher, in arts-vibrant Minneapolis. "Bowles" stopped by for a PNT reunion last week while visiting LA,...

Hans Christian Andersen was one of the world's most creative authors of fairy and folk tales, popular with both young and old in the 19th Century. Born in the little town of Odense, in Denmark, he overcame much to become a "Danish Treasure". His works, filled with the whimsy and pathos of his own life, have been celebrated throughout the world.

A classic American ghost story by Walter B. Gibson. Lamont Cranston, aka The Shadow, uses his extraordinary powers - "soon to be available to all law enforcement agencies" - to bring evil-doers to justice. Introduction and adaptation by Lance Davis. Starring John Rafter Lee, Mary Chalon, Barry Gordon, Jill Rogosheske, James Calvert and Marisa Chandler. Sound by Dave Bennett. All 46 PNT podcasts ar...