Lights, camera, radio!

WASILLA — Sight and sound returned to the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Radio Free Palmer in the sixth installment of Alaska Home Companion. Dubbed as a “frontier variety show,” the Valley Arts Alliance (VAA) crafted an original homage to the “golden age of radio,” with live performances on stage that were broadcast on the radio, containing skits, music and storytelling. Inspired by National Public Radio (NPR)’s “Prairie Home Companion,” a cast of colorful characters entertained an audience of around 60 people on Saturday. Both active VAA members and outsiders from the community gathered to present an array of topics covering hot-button issues, goofy escapes, real-life anecdotes, costumed cascades and mundane absurdities. The live audience seemed very engaged with the performances.

According to ventriloquist, actor, comedian and singer, Hillary Saffran, there was “Something for everyone.”

Bluegrass and folk musicians strummed tunes throughout the evening, both as fillers for before the show and intermission and as their own acts.

“Moments in History” were also spliced in throughout the show, with brief anecdotes about historical facts in Alaska, such as the naming of the Parks and Glenn highways. In between sets, the guitar-strummed jingle came to the stage, “It’s not science or math — you see, it’s time for another moment in hist-or-y.” After each story, the presenter would say, “and now you know.”

“I think it was a success,” McLaughlin said. “The crowd seemed to enjoy it.”

According to McLaughlin, the members got together for meetings and wrote skits. She was a little surprised that “casual, funny” comments became skits. After talking things over and sharing laughs with one another, a common theme of “technology” was formed.

They also used national discussion topics like legalized cannabis, the North Korea nuclear situation, and President Trump’s “interesting comments.”

“It gets better every year,” said performer Pam Huyck.

McLaughlin performed a skit dubbed, “Smart Phone Yoga.” She spoke in a calm, guided session voice and modeled movements like the “selfie pose.” She jabbed at common practices with smart phones. For the “selfie pose,” she recommended everyone lift their phones higher with each passing year to hide their unsavory features.

“Our goal is to align our auras to our phone cases,” she said, adding that she enjoyed “hamming it up” on stage and getting a reaction from the audience.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said performer Becky McLaughlin.

Carmen Summerfield is the executive director of the Valley Arts Alliance. She also hosted the event, and took the helm for the whole project.

“Carmen is the driving force,” said performer, John Stroup. “Whatever she needs, we try to fill in the gaps.”

Summerfield said that they start meeting about two to four months before the show to prepare the outline, come up with material and iron out the lineup. She said they bounce ideas around and it grows from there. She said that when making this show, all the members play pivotal roles in the production. They often joke about titles.

“We’re all producers,” she laughed.

Performer, pastor for King of King’s Lutheran Church and president of the Wasilla-Knik Historical Society, Robbin Robbert said it was the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, and since he’s a Lutheran pastor, he figured it would be a fitting year to sing the “Reformation Polka.” He also did a skit about the comedic origin of bound books, when monks made the switch from scrolls. One of the monks was purely baffled by the concept. Robbert said he had a great time working with the cast and crew.

“The director Carmen really has a laid back and yet productive way about her,” Robbert said. “She also is a great storyteller. While we were at Sophia's Cafe in Palmer for the auditions she told a story of catching a mouse and being all ready to use Q-tips to release it and ending up with her foot on the sticky trap and the mouse biting her toe — that was hilarious!” Robbert said.

That mouse story was eventually brought to the stage and Summerfield got a roar of laughter from the audience. The squeaky mouse noises made by Campbell seemed to aid her cause. She said that for the performers, putting themselves out there was “kind of like therapy for them.”

“I think it is very important because it gives people another outlet for socializing, performing, and laughing at the things we can't really do anything about anyway,” Robbert said.

Two years ago, Dave Glenn decided to try something new and get on stage with the folks at “Alaska Home Companion.” He adopted the persona of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Complete with a white moustache, snowy wig, and a Southern twang, Glenn played to his crowd and mixed original material with Twain quotes, criticizing politicians and observing current events. He said that Twain advised to cater your material to the audience; not the other way around. Initially, he said it’s “frightening” for him to get on stage, but once up there, he appears to be confident on the outside. This is “one off the bucket list” for him.

“I’m 73 years old, so I’m doing it,” Glenn said.

Throughout the show, Bill Campbell emitted live sound effects akin to those heard on “Prairie Home Companion,” making humorous blips like door creaking noises, dog barks, squishy noises and mouse squeaks. This is Campbell’s first year on the mic. According to Summerfield, this is the first time they’ve had such a degree of sound effects.

“It’s a fun, eclectic group,” Stroup said.

John Stroup took the mantle of Guided North a few years ago. Stroup also played live music with his family. Guided North is a parody of hard-boiled detectives from the days of old time radio shows. The character has been a staple of the Alaska Home Companion since its creation. On the board of directors for the Valley Arts Alliance, Stroup worked closely with Summerfield and wrote his own skit this year about an owl caper about a prized owl that goes missing. The Guided North was charged with finding it and they proceeded to squawk around town looking for clues and meeting offbeat characters. The dialogue was heavy with word play to punish the audience with lines like, “he put me in a fowl mood.” He said that he wrote the skit a year ago, trying to model his dialogue with the iconic styles that were so prevalent in the noir, gumshoe detectives from the 20s.

“It’s an age-old formula,” Stroup said. “I just made my own.”

Summerfield said she thinks events like these are “more important now than ever.” With such a feeling of division in the country, she said that artistic endeavors like Alaska Home Companion are a way for people to look at what they have in common.

“That’s what it’s all about- bringing the community together through the arts. The arts are great for that. We’re all in this together,” Summerfield said. “We want stuff here in the Valley so that you don’t have to go to in Anchorage.”

The next Alaska Home Companion will be on Nov. 18, at the Sutton Library. All Alaska Home Companion shows are broadcast live on Radio Free Palmer and are later archived on their podcast.

The VAA meets every Thursday at 11 a.m. at Sophia’s Café, off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, near the Mat-Su Test Lab and Midtown Estates. For more information about the upcoming show or more about the VAA, visit valleyartsalliance.com.

Contact reporter Jacob Mann at 907-715-8717 or jacob.mann@frontiersman.com