October 6, 2025 • 7 mins
We spoke with Ginny Wolf about the clever, chilly, and frighteningly funny show "Howl of a Night" at the Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall. She tells us about the four new, original old-time live radio plays and invites you to be part of the live "studio audience."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Allison Demurz. It's my pleasure to have with me today.
Ginny Woolf. She is a producer and she's acting in
How of a Night. It's at the Little Theater of
Manchester and another theater that we're going to talk about.
Good morning, Ginny, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, Alison, I'm great. How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm great? So Hall of a Night, the second coming
is taking place October eleventh and twelfth at the Little
Theater of Manchester. It's supposed to be clever, chilling, frighteningly funny,
and a live studio audience for those who don't know
about it. Give us a little bit so we don't
know it all.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We harken back to the nineteen forties in live radio.
We did this a number of years ago before COVID,
but we originally started with a Halloween Old Time radio show,
which was one published play and then won original show
by Bill Arnold, who it turns out is writing all
the shows this year. And we realized the original show
was so much fun that we decided to do it
(01:02):
again a Hall of a Night live old time Halloween
radio plays, but all with original grips, so we brought
it back and this year Bill Arnold has written all
of the scripts and they are all very funny. The
biggest challenge of this as a rehearsing is for us
to get through it without laughing. For a different grips
that are Yes, they're thriller comedy. I don't even know
what the genre would be, but I guess that's the
(01:22):
best way to describe it.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So it's live radio plays. There's going to be four
different ones. Again, I'm saying this the easy way because
I'm not a pro at any of this. So it's
four old time live radio plays and they're six actors.
So you guys really gotta be on. I mean, you're
just NonStop.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's NonStop with lots of different character voices and accents,
which is it's a wonderful challenge as an actor, and
it's so much fun. We do it at vintage mics,
and we have a folly artist who's got probably two
tables full of live sound effects that he takes, so
it's actually way more fun to watch him than it
(02:03):
is to watch us just standing at the mic.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So for those who don't know what a fully artist
is what is it?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
It is someone who creates sound effects live so that
whether it's you know, thunder with a thunder sat or whistles,
it's footsteps, whatever it might be. He's making that all
happen at a microphone so that it comes across the
airwaves like they did in old time radio. We also
do have some computer generated sound effects and music cues,
(02:29):
just because it is not old time radio, to enhance
the show. But it's an art. It's an art that's
I wouldn't say it's lost because our fully artist, Matthew
Horwitz is doing a great job. But it's not done anymore,
certainly in radio.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, I could see why you would start laughing. You know,
you say some line that's funny, and then you he
does like a whoop or sound or something, and you
just want to look at each other and laugh, but
you got to push it down and keep going. Oh
my goodness, this sounds like so much fun. It really is.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And Bill Arnold has written four really fun scripts that
are all very different. Although he introduces a character Sally
fits Private Dick, and right from there I will tell
you it is PG. Thirteen. Okay, okay, but it's a
lot of fun, a lot of innuendo. No bad words,
but a lot of innuendo.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So the four original radio plays are four different actual stories,
or do they continue on four.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Different actual stories? And it's really quite something. It's an
art to write for radio in this way, because it's
not the same as writing a regular play. You have
to design it and write it for the live bound
effects and the things that people will hear and not see.
And Bill is a master at it. He's done a
wonderful job.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Will you sound amazing? Tell me about some of the
characters you're playing.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, let's see. I do get to play Sally Fitz,
who is kind of a noir type female detective back
from the nineteen forty so instead of the Humphrey Bogart
character or Sam Spade or whatever, Sally fits is a
unique character who gets herselves into all sorts of fixes.
We also have a wonderful show called to the Dogs,
and I won't give any spoilers, but these all are
(04:13):
thrillers with entertaining problems that have to get solved. The
basis of each of them, and then the Debting Anniversary
is one that uh well, sounds a lot like what
it is. The debting anniversary instead of the wedding and involved.
They're all very clever. There's a lot of double n taunderus.
There's a lot of fun words that almost like the
(04:33):
audience to be able to read the scripts because it
goes by fast. It goes by the fat a fast clip.
So we'll hope that everybody gets all the jokes that
are involved.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Oh I bet they will, especially with the sound effects.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So where we're having a great time.
It's something that my company, Her Story Theater, we've done
for a number of years. We sort of have a
tradition of doing It's a Wonderful Life, the live radio play.
So this taking on these live radio shows is something
that we've got a nice repertory group who knows how
to handle it, and a folly artists who know how
(05:07):
to do it, and everybody jumps in together and we
have a great time.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Jinny, are you a Connecticut native? Where are you from?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, I'm originally from Massachusetts, but i've been here for
you know, just thirty seven years, so I guess I
am a Connecticut native at this point.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And this is this what you do? Like you have
a theater background, did you go to school for it
or are you just a natural?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Sort of a natural? I did. I did study it,
but I really always knowing I loved theater. I had
a career and raised a family before getting back into
it about seventeen years ago or so, and really started
her Storytheater dot Com as a vehicle for some one
woman historical plays that I wrote and I perform. But
it's given me an opportunity to jump into all sorts
(05:50):
of other things. Theater is a really fun thing to do,
but you're not often the master of your destiny. You
have to audition and you may or may not get
cast in something. So if you produce your work, you're
always going to be busy.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I do love that. I'm just so happy that you
came back after raising your kids and you're still using
the gifts inside of you. If you'd like to see
Howl of a Night, you can go to Cheneyhall dot org,
but really just go to her Story Theater dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So you know, a little cautionary pg. Thirteen. I don't
want people to come think and bring little kids, but
also just bring your ears and a sense of humor
and come in and enjoy old time radio. The art
of it and the humor of it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I'm speaking with Ginny Woolf, producer and an actress in
Howl of a Night. It's taking place October eleventh and
twelfth at the Little Theater of Manchester, and then again
the weekend after the seventeen, eighteenth, and nineteenth at which theater.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Is that it's Farmington Valley Stage in Collinsville.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Wonderful again. Go to her story theater dot com for
more information. Genny, thank you so much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Thank you Allison. It's been delightful. M
Good morning, thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Allison Demurz. It's my pleasure to have with me today.
Ginny Woolf. She is a producer and she's acting in
How of a Night. It's at the Little Theater of
Manchester and another theater that we're going to talk about.
Good morning, Ginny, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, Alison, I'm great. How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm great? So Hall of a Night, the second coming
is taking place October eleventh and twelfth at the Little
Theater of Manchester. It's supposed to be clever, chilling, frighteningly funny,
and a live studio audience for those who don't know
about it. Give us a little bit so we don't
know it all.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We harken back to the nineteen forties in live radio.
We did this a number of years ago before COVID,
but we originally started with a Halloween Old Time radio show,
which was one published play and then won original show
by Bill Arnold, who it turns out is writing all
the shows this year. And we realized the original show
was so much fun that we decided to do it
(01:02):
again a Hall of a Night live old time Halloween
radio plays, but all with original grips, so we brought
it back and this year Bill Arnold has written all
of the scripts and they are all very funny. The
biggest challenge of this as a rehearsing is for us
to get through it without laughing. For a different grips
that are Yes, they're thriller comedy. I don't even know
what the genre would be, but I guess that's the
(01:22):
best way to describe it.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So it's live radio plays. There's going to be four
different ones. Again, I'm saying this the easy way because
I'm not a pro at any of this. So it's
four old time live radio plays and they're six actors.
So you guys really gotta be on. I mean, you're
just NonStop.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's NonStop with lots of different character voices and accents,
which is it's a wonderful challenge as an actor, and
it's so much fun. We do it at vintage mics,
and we have a folly artist who's got probably two
tables full of live sound effects that he takes, so
it's actually way more fun to watch him than it
(02:03):
is to watch us just standing at the mic.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So for those who don't know what a fully artist
is what is it?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
It is someone who creates sound effects live so that
whether it's you know, thunder with a thunder sat or whistles,
it's footsteps, whatever it might be. He's making that all
happen at a microphone so that it comes across the
airwaves like they did in old time radio. We also
do have some computer generated sound effects and music cues,
(02:29):
just because it is not old time radio, to enhance
the show. But it's an art. It's an art that's
I wouldn't say it's lost because our fully artist, Matthew
Horwitz is doing a great job. But it's not done anymore,
certainly in radio.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, I could see why you would start laughing. You know,
you say some line that's funny, and then you he
does like a whoop or sound or something, and you
just want to look at each other and laugh, but
you got to push it down and keep going. Oh
my goodness, this sounds like so much fun. It really is.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And Bill Arnold has written four really fun scripts that
are all very different. Although he introduces a character Sally
fits Private Dick, and right from there I will tell
you it is PG. Thirteen. Okay, okay, but it's a
lot of fun, a lot of innuendo. No bad words,
but a lot of innuendo.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So the four original radio plays are four different actual stories,
or do they continue on four.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Different actual stories? And it's really quite something. It's an
art to write for radio in this way, because it's
not the same as writing a regular play. You have
to design it and write it for the live bound
effects and the things that people will hear and not see.
And Bill is a master at it. He's done a
wonderful job.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Will you sound amazing? Tell me about some of the
characters you're playing.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, let's see. I do get to play Sally Fitz,
who is kind of a noir type female detective back
from the nineteen forty so instead of the Humphrey Bogart
character or Sam Spade or whatever, Sally fits is a
unique character who gets herselves into all sorts of fixes.
We also have a wonderful show called to the Dogs,
and I won't give any spoilers, but these all are
(04:13):
thrillers with entertaining problems that have to get solved. The
basis of each of them, and then the Debting Anniversary
is one that uh well, sounds a lot like what
it is. The debting anniversary instead of the wedding and involved.
They're all very clever. There's a lot of double n taunderus.
There's a lot of fun words that almost like the
(04:33):
audience to be able to read the scripts because it
goes by fast. It goes by the fat a fast clip.
So we'll hope that everybody gets all the jokes that
are involved.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Oh I bet they will, especially with the sound effects.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So where we're having a great time.
It's something that my company, Her Story Theater, we've done
for a number of years. We sort of have a
tradition of doing It's a Wonderful Life, the live radio play.
So this taking on these live radio shows is something
that we've got a nice repertory group who knows how
to handle it, and a folly artists who know how
(05:07):
to do it, and everybody jumps in together and we
have a great time.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Jinny, are you a Connecticut native? Where are you from?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, I'm originally from Massachusetts, but i've been here for
you know, just thirty seven years, so I guess I
am a Connecticut native at this point.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And this is this what you do? Like you have
a theater background, did you go to school for it
or are you just a natural?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Sort of a natural? I did. I did study it,
but I really always knowing I loved theater. I had
a career and raised a family before getting back into
it about seventeen years ago or so, and really started
her Storytheater dot Com as a vehicle for some one
woman historical plays that I wrote and I perform. But
it's given me an opportunity to jump into all sorts
(05:50):
of other things. Theater is a really fun thing to do,
but you're not often the master of your destiny. You
have to audition and you may or may not get
cast in something. So if you produce your work, you're
always going to be busy.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I do love that. I'm just so happy that you
came back after raising your kids and you're still using
the gifts inside of you. If you'd like to see
Howl of a Night, you can go to Cheneyhall dot org,
but really just go to her Story Theater dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So you know, a little cautionary pg. Thirteen. I don't
want people to come think and bring little kids, but
also just bring your ears and a sense of humor
and come in and enjoy old time radio. The art
of it and the humor of it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I'm speaking with Ginny Woolf, producer and an actress in
Howl of a Night. It's taking place October eleventh and
twelfth at the Little Theater of Manchester, and then again
the weekend after the seventeen, eighteenth, and nineteenth at which theater.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Is that it's Farmington Valley Stage in Collinsville.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Wonderful again. Go to her story theater dot com for
more information. Genny, thank you so much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Thank you Allison. It's been delightful. M
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