Sun Ra - The Stranger - Pacifica Radio Play 1968

The Stranger
A radio play broadcast over Pacifica stations in the late 1960s on a show called Mind's Eye Theater. The exact date is unknown. Presumably made at WBAI-FM, New York City. 30 min. Available (to radio stations only) from the Pacifica Foundation. [Fukuda and Pleshar]

Written by Maxine Haller; directed by Jack Marx; music by Sun Ra; sound effects by Morris Markowitz; featuring Virgil Catherine Doyle, Raymond Spino, Jack Marx, and Maxine Haller. Your host: Raymond. "It's a pretty goofy play, definitely late 60s, man....Most of the music (composed and performed by Ra) appears in short 15 second to 1 minute or so segments.... Of course, there's dialogue over most of the music. It's about a strange man who appears in a lodging house. He's a burglar and he steals all their stuff while they try to figure out who it is." Several of the characters tend to speak in rhyming couplets [Pleshar] 

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142. [125] Sun Ra

The Stranger

Actors: Virgil Catherine Doyle; Raymond Spino; Jack Marx; Maxine Haller.  Writer: Maxine Haller.  Director: Jack Marx.  Musicians: Sun Ra (p, e-celeste, strings); Bernard Pettaway (btb, strings); Marshall Allen (as, fl, strings); Danny Davis (as, strings); John Gilmore (ts, strings); Robert Cummings (bcl, strings); Ronnie Boykins (b, dutar).

WBAI-FM, New York City, around 1968

1. overture by the Arkestra (30 sec.)
2. btb growls and riff, fl riff
3. strange strings
4. 2 note riff on e-celeste
5. horn riff
6. p (with echo) and bcl
7. p solo
8. horn riff with e-celeste,
slow and menacing (1 min. +)

This 30-minute radio play premiered over Pacifica stations in the late 1960s on a show called "Mind's Eye Theater."  The exact date is unknown.  The play is still available for broadcast from the Pacifica Foundation.  Ra's incidental music consists of short segments (as little as 15 seconds) underneath the dialogue.  Sun Ra identified on the broadcast; other personnel identified by rlc.  The strange strings included koto and presumably duty and Gilmore's little Japanese instrument.  Thanks to Curtis Fukuda and to Ralph Pleshar (who provided the descriptions of the short segments).
-from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

The Stranger - 160k