WERS Bringing Live Theatre, Important Conversation to the Airwaves

Miss going to live theatre events? This weekend, WERS is bringing live theatre to your home and domiciles across Greater Boston and beyond with Standing Room Only: Kitchen Kickline, a virtual musical theatre extravaganza featuring local theatre companies.

Airing during WERS’ weekly Standing Room Only shows on Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am, and Sunday, October 4, 12:00 pm, Kitchen Kickline will kick off what would have been the start of the Fall 2020 Boston theatre season with live, in-home performances from Greater Boston Stage Company, Moonbox Productions, New Repertory Theater, SpeakEasy Stage, Voices of Hope, and Wheelock Family Theatre.

WERS 88.9 FM DJ and Standing Room Only host Phil Jones ’18 said that while the show has been able to provide musical theatre lovers with their weekly fix of show tunes throughout the pandemic, he was “crushed” to see live theatre paused for so long.

“However, when we started asking around, we found that Boston companies have been putting together some incredible, frontier-pushing digital and outdoor productions,” Jones said. “It’s an honor to share some of what our theatrical neighbors have been cooking up from their homes.

“I hope listeners get a little joy from the spontaneous and unconventional return of live theater to WERS!” Jones added.

In addition to the on-air performances, Jones will host a roundtable discussion on the future of Boston’s theatre scene in the face of the pandemic and social justice movement.

Moderated by Annie Levy, artistic director of Emerson Stage, and featuring David Dower, artistic director of ArtsEmerson, the conversation will stream on Facebook Live at 2:00 pm on Saturday, October 3. The panel will cover topics including keeping the spirit of theatre alive during quarantine and considerations for an equitable and accessible theatre community that drives theatre in a post-COVID world.

Standing Room Only is the only musical theatre radio show in Boston. For more than 40 years, the show has been able to feature the most compelling show tunes over the air in Boston and throughout the world via webstream.