KPFK Presents THE NUTCRACKER'S JOURNEY, 12/22

KPFK, Pacifica Radio for Southern California, presents the Arts in Review Holiday Special, airing Wednesday, December 22 (2 to 3pm), hosted by arts journalist Julio Martinez.  Presented annually since 1993, this special broadcast features Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales, read by Al Alu, and the premiere of the radio drama, The Nutcracker's Journey, featuring the Arts in Review Repertory Players.  Musical artists include Mara Purl, Marilyn Harris and AnnaMaria Padilla.
           
Arts in Review, celebrating the best of live theater and cabaret in the Greater Los Angeles area, hosted by Julio Martinez, has been produced by KPFK since 1987.  Martinez, formerly a theater critic for Daily Variety, writes the weekly LA Stage INSIDER column for LAStageTimes.com, is the features editor for Latin Heat Entertainment and a recurring feature writer for the Writers Guild of America West (WGAw) publication, Written By.
           
In keeping with Pacifica Radio's mandate to originate radio drama, The Arts in Review Repertory Players was formed in 2005 to augment Pacifica Radio's holiday programming.  Scripted by Martinez, Arts in Review has presented dramatizations of Yes Virginia, There is A Santa Claus (2005), O Henry's The Gift of the Magi (2007), Mark Twain's The Diary of Adam and Eve (2008) and All is Calm All is Bright: The Story of Silent Night (2009).   
           
The Nutcracker's Journey, written by Julio Martinez, directed by Irene Arranga and produced by Mark Torres, features an ensemble of professional actors, including
Richard Heft, Roger Kern, Amanda Tepe, Nicholas Reed, Linnea Liu Dakin, Joanna Yortis, JC Martinez, Ed Krieger, James Hardie, James Green, Cullen Kirkland and Carol Kline. The production features the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,  Ludwig Von Beethoven and Jacques Offenbach.  
           
Al Alu, a founding members of The American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), has offered his acclaimed presentation of Dylan Thomas's remembrance of a youth growing up in a seaside Welch village, since the inaugural Arts in Review Holiday special in 2003.  His reading, underscored by Mara Purl (koto) and Marilyn Harris (keyboards), has become an annual tradition at KPFK and thoughout the Pacifica Radio Network. 
           
Arts in Review, hosted by Julio Martinez and produced by Donna Walker, airs weekly on KPFK FM on Wednesday, normally 2-2:30pm, over 90.7FM, 98.7 FM (Santa Barbara area) and streamed worldwide over kpfk.org.  The Arts in Review Holiday Special will also air nationally over the Pacifica Radio Netowrk on Saturday, December 25 (time TBA) . For further information call 818-648-6128 or kpfk.org.