Eastern’s theatre arts department will be hosting a Christmas event for students and staff called “A Christmas Carol Radio Play.”

The play will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Friday and at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Globe Studio Room in the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Christopher Gadomski, the director of the play, said “A Christmas Carol Radio Play” is the classic Charles Dickens Christmas tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his redemption through his supernatural experience with the three spirts of Christmas.

“The Globe Studio where this performance is being held has a 60-seat capacity, so don’t wait too long to get your tickets if you’re interested in seeing this performance,” Gadomski said.

There will be several traditional carols presented during this play at various times including the song, “The First Noel.”

Gadomski said this play is being performed as an “old timey radio play,” and it is nothing like a stage play.

Gadomski said the difference from a stage play and a radio play is that the performers will be standing in front of microphones holding their scripts while performing their parts. Live sound effects performed by folly artists off to one side of the stage will also be present in the performance.

“Radio plays are essentially the same type of script that could be used for a live theatre performance, television show or movie,” Gadomski said. “The difference though is that while in the above mentioned mediums the viewer can view the performers and see visual cues, in a radio play all information must be conveyed through sound alone.”

Gadomski said an example of this is if cast members want to let the audience know that someone is walking across a floor they have to create that sound with props into the microphone in a realistic way.

Another way to show this effect is if someone comes in a room we might hear a door open and close instead of actually seeing this, he said.

“Because we’re doing this performance as a radio play, we’ll also be having two folly artists onstage generating the sound effects live in front of the audience,” Gadomski said.

Gadomski said that this type of performance will be familiar to older viewers because today’s younger generation is unware of what radio was to American families in the early 1900s and how radio was the entertainment box that families gathered around at the end of the day to hear news, music or radio plays.

Tickets for general admission will be $5.

Lauren Graham can be reached at 581-2812 or ldgraham@eiu.edu