Landmark Radio Theater’s Production of Off The Rails is Performed Live on Sunday, Nov. 6
HEARTS of Port Washington proudly announces Landmark Radio Theater as the 2022 recipient of the Gina Farasciano Community Theater Grant, an annual award presented to a community theater or arts program in Port Washington. This grant program honors Farasciano, who passed away in Spring 2020. It honors her legacy and passion for the arts and for theater, and celebrates her spirit through theater experiences in Port Washington. Landmark Radio Theater’s original production of Off The Rails is performed live at Landmark on Main Street on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 4 p.m.
Off The Rails—presented by Landmark Radio Theater and co-produced by Expressive Elocution and Landmark on Main Street—is an hour-long original play by Patrick J. Lyons in the classic style of radio dramas from the Golden Age of broadcasting, and tells the story of seven strangers on a train from Port Washington on a winter night in 1942. Some are chasing new hopes, others are on the run from old troubles, and one is an enemy agent. When a blizzard imperils the train, sparks fly, dangers mount, and dark secrets are revealed. A cast of talented performers will give voice to the story’s array of vivid characters, with live music and sound effects created right on stage. Landmark Radio Theater’s previous productions have been a hit with audiences, including radio-drama adaptations of the classic films Stagecoach, Stage Door and The Man Who Came to Dinner, and last year’s premiere of an original murder mystery, Murder in Studio 2B.
The Gina Farasciano Community Theater Grant was established in Spring 2020 following Farasciano’s passing, and was met with overwhelming public support, surpassing its initial fundraising goal. Annual recipients receive $1,000 to be used towards a community theater production or arts program, as selected by HEARTS PW in concert with Gina Farasciano’s parents. Recipients have included The Community Synagogue Theater Company, The Port Summer Show, and the Schreiber Theater Company.
A Port Washington native and Schreiber High School graduate, Farasciano had a lifelong love of theater. She performed in her youth in the annual Port Summer Show, and brought her signature warm-hearted enthusiasm to the Port Washington Play Troupe, Community Synagogue Theater Company, Herricks Players, Landmark Radio Theater, countless karaoke stages, and more. She also volunteered, helping out backstage at the Daytime/Prime Time Emmy Awards and donating hundreds of hours to the Gold Coast International Film Festival.
HEARTS continues to raise money for this memorial fund to support community theater and arts programs, while also raising funds to support additional arts programs and experiences in our schools and community. Learn more about HEARTS and support this annual grant program at heartspw.org.
—Submitted by HEARTS of Port Washington
