Past Live Events | The Post-Meridian Radio Players

This section lists our past performances. See our upcoming events page for events to look forward to!

2024

Our Gender-Swapped Star Trek series at the Arisia science-fiction convention continued in January 2024 with “The Doomsday Machine” in which Captain Jane T. Kirk, investigating a distress signal from another starship, discovers a planet-killing machine — and the sole survivor of its attack bent on vengeance!
In February, we reprised our original audio drama “The King in Yellow”, based on the Robert W. Chambers stories, at the Boskone science-fiction convention! In this horror-comedy, a local community theater comes together to put on The King in Yellow, a notorious play of mysterious provenance that is rumored to drive its readers mad.
Also in February, we conducted a community-wide Foley 101 training, for anybody interested in learning to perform live sound effects.
In April, we presented an original Cold-War spy thriller by Michael Lin, “Women Behind the Curtain”, along with a recreation of a 1940 episode of Lest We Forget: Stories to Remember, “The Outcasts”.
In May, at the Watch City Steampunk Festival, we performed an abridged version of our original adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland! The performance (free, like the rest of the festival), was at the Waltham Public Library.
In June, we reprised our gender-swapped take on the Star Trek original-series episode “The Doomsday Machine”, originally performed as part of the Arisia science-fiction conference in January.
In July, our summer mystery series returned with The Thirteenth Mystery, with three radio plays:
- We recreated a classic episode of Lux Radio Theater, The Thin Man, written by George Wells and Sanford Barnett, adapted by Jeremy Holstein!
- The gentleman thief Arsène Lupin returned in the new adaptation by Michael Lin, The Black Pearl!
- And we presented Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, adapted for audio drama by Phoebe Roberts!

2023

In April, we presented our original full-length adaptation of the science-fiction classic, Metropolis! Our first weekend was at Guild Church in Davis Square, Somerville, and our second weekend was our first time performing at Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown.
In May, we were to have reprised our original adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes adventure “The Final Problem” at the Watch City Steampunk Festival in Waltham. Unfortuantely, an HVAC failure at the performance venue meant that our performance had to be cancelled, but we hope to perform this again.
In June, we reprised two of our gender-swapped takes on Star Trek episodes, “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Spock’s Brain”.
In July, we performed a full-length adaptation of the very first Sherlock Holmes story, “A Study in Scarlet”.
Our Halloween show was the 10th Anniversary performance of our adaptation of the classic horror film Night of the Living Dead, along with an original horror-comedy based on The King in Yellow

2022

In February, we performed the Gender-Swapped Star Trek: episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”, over Zoom. (This had been planned as part of the Arisia science-fiction convention in January; when that was cancelled due to the Omicron COVID-19 surge, we decided to perform it streaming instead.)
Also in February, we performed Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans at the Boskone 59 science-fiction convention, reprising our performance from last year. This is one of only two adventures to feature Sherlock’s older, smarter brother Mycroft. Holmes and Watson investigate the theft of the plans of England’s greatest naval weapon, the Bruce-Partington submarine!
In July, we participated in the Somerville Arts Council's ArtBeat 2022 with our walking audio tour, Strange Tales of Davis Square, presenting a series of very short audio stories about locations around Davis Square. ArtBeat was on July 16, but the stories are still available for listening whenever you’d like to hear them.
Also in July. we presented our summer mysteries, Riddle of the Super Sleuths, featuring gentleman thief Arsène Lupin in “The Seven of Hearts”, Doctor Watson and Inspector Lestrade puzzling out a mystery for Sherlock Holmes in “The Adventure of the Sleeping Cardinal”, and an original mystery, “The Lost Days of Mrs. Neele”.
In October, we presented Tomes of Terror: Spirits of Suspense, featuring three classic stories from the Golden Age of Radio: Suspense’s “Three O’Clock” and “The Furnished Floor,” and Escape’s “The Birds.”

2021

In May, we reprised the Gender-Swapped Star Trek: episode “Mirror Mirror”, over Zoom. (We had earlier streamed this live for the Arisia science-fiction convention in January.)
Our Summer mystery shows, typically performed all together as an anthology before a live audience, are instead being streamed once a month for an extended Summer of Mystery.
- In June, we streamed Vera Wolfe in The Case of the Slaughtered Mrs. Claus. Someone is killing women dressed up as Mrs. Claus, and it’s up to Vera Wolfe and her right hand woman Audrey Goodwin to save Mrs. Claus before Christmas!
- In July, we streamed Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, one of only two adventures to feature Sherlock’s older, smarter brother Mycroft. Holmes and Watson investigate the theft of the plans of England’s greatest naval weapon, the Bruce-Partington submarine!
- In August, we streamed Lady Molly of Scotland Yard in The Fordwych Castle Mystery. Lady Molly and Mary return to the PMRP Summer Mysteries to investigate a gruesome murder at Fordwyche Castle.
Our Halloween show was Plan 9 from Outer Space, featuring a radio-drama adaptation by Michael McAfee of that acclaimed pinnacle of the cinematic œuvre, along with an original prequel, “Plan 8 from the Outer Ether”, by Brian Rust. (This show was originally scheduled for Spring 2020, but the pandemic altered those plans. We were delighted to be able to finally bring it to the stage!)

2020

At Boskone in mid-February we performed Michael McAfee’s original homage to Golden-Age-of-Radio serials, “The Silver Shade: Help from the Shadows”.
On Halloween, October 31, 2020, we released Spooky Soliloquies, a collection of spooky stories, each told by a single reader. You can stream them directly from the Spooky Soliloquies page or stream or download them from our Soundcloud page at https://soundcloud.com/postmeridianradioplayers.
On November 14, the Post-Meridian Radio Players streamed a reprise of the Gender-Swapped Star Trek episode we performed at the Arisia science-fiction convention in January, “By Any Other Name”. In our adaptation of this episode invaders from the Andromeda Galaxy take over the Enterprise, and Capt. Jane Kirk and Ms. Spock must find a way to escape their captors and rescue their crew and ship.
On December 4th and 5th, again performed our original adaptation of that 1964 Christmas classic film, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, in which Martians, concerned that their children are bored and listless and don’t want to do anything but watch Earth television programs, kidnap Santa Claus (and a couple of unlucky Earth children) from Earth and bring him to Mars to make toys so their children can be kids again. This year the performances streamed live on YouTube! (You can watch them on YouTube or here on our website)

2019

Our Gender-Swapped Star Trek series at the Arisia science-fiction convention continued in January 2019 with “The Enterprise Incident” in which Captain Jane T. Kirk, behaving oddly, orders the Enterprise into Romulan space, and is intercepted by three Romulan ships. On being invited to board the flagship, Captain Kirk and Ms. Spock are surprised to find that its captain is a man. Will Spock be immune to his masculine wiles?
This year, for the first time, we also reprised one of our summer mysteries at Arisia. We presented Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in “The Final Problem,” in which Holmes battles his most famous adversary, the infamous Professor Moriarty.
In April, our Spring show featured “Filibus: The Mysterious Sky Pirate”, an original adaptation of a 1915 silent film by Brian Kjersten about a daring thief who uses her airship and her gift for disguise to commit seemingly impossible crimes, and “Confidence Confidant”, an original radio drama by Eva C. Schegulla based on the true-story of Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton detective, who used her similar knack for disguise and deception in the service of justice rather than crime.
In July, our Summer Mystery show featured “Mrs. Hudson Investigates”, in which Sherlock Holmes’ landlady Martha Hudson takes a case herself after the famous detective disappears, and “The Adventure of the Empty House”, set three years after Holmes’ death at the hands of Professor Moriarty, when the late detective’s friend and diarist Dr. Watson tries to work out a notorious and seemingly impossible case.
In early August, the Post-Meridian Radio Players reprised the Gender-Swapped Star Trek: episode we performed at the Arisia science-fiction convention in January, “The Enterprise Incident”. In Mindy Klenoff's adaptation of this Original Series episode Ms. Spock finds her loyalties tested when the Enterprise ventures into Romulan space, and the crew of the Enterprise find themselves at the mercy of a Romulan fleet led by a male commander.
On August 23d, PMRP reprised our original adaptation of “The Cask of Amontillado” at the Somerville Media Center’s pop-up performance space VOX POP in Assembly Square, Somerville. Naomi Ibasitas directed Mare Freed’s adaptation, which transplants Poe’s classic tale to the Roaring Twenties.
On October 10, PMRP reprised “Hurst of Hurstcote” at Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate, in Waltham, originally performed as part of Tomes of Terror: Lenore in 2017. For full details including ticket information, see Stonehurst’s own page about the event. (For a copy of the program, you can see our very minimal event page.)
Around Halloween in October/November, we presented Tomes of Terror: Beyond Grimm, featuring four hair-raising folk tales (one of them also hare-raising) from around the world: “A Hare-Raising Tale” by Naomi Hinchen, “The Myling” by Adrian Cory, “The Boy Who Drew Cats” by Greg Lam, and “La Siguanaba” by Liz Salazar.
In December, we we again performed our original adaptation of that 1964 Christmas classic film, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, in which Martians, concerned that their children are bored and listless and don’t want to do anything but watch Earth television programs, kidnap Santa Claus (and a couple of unlucky Earth children) from Earth and bring him to Mars to make toys so their children can be kids again. This gets better every year, and this year we also presented a featurette on the importance of safety at Christmastime.

2018

Our performance at Arisia in January 2018 was another gender-swapped take on Star Trek. We adapted the episode “Amok Time”, in which Ms. Spock undergoes the periodic Vulcan phenomenon known as pon farr, which shatters her rational self-control and compels her to return to Vulcan and take a husband. But her fiancé makes a choice that puts both her and Captain Jane T. Kirk at risk.
In April, our Spring Adventure show, Lest We Forget, featured “Double Deception”, an original story featuring the WWII-era comic-book superhero War Nurse, who fights Nazis by caring for allied forces in her day job, and then goes undercover to fight Nazis with her wits and fists along with her Commandos, and two companion pieces, “Blow That Whistle” and “Hey Cabbie” originally produced in 1947 by the Anti-Defamation League’s Institute for Democratic Education on the themes of American values of tolerance and pluralism.
In July, our Summer Mystery show was Moriarty’s Mysteries, featuring Vera Wolfe in “The Boy Who Cried Wolfe,” a gender-swapped adaptation of a Nero Wolfe radio drama originally broadcast in 1950, Arsène Lupin in “Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late,” and Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in “The Final Problem.”
In August, we had a one-day reprise of our gender-swapped take on the classic Star Trek episode “Amok Time”, originally performed at the 2018 Arisia science-fiction convention.
While this wasn’t a performance, in September, we hosted an audio postproduction class.
In October, we presented The Van Helsing Chronicles, pairing original adaptations of Richard Marsh’s The Beetle and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, hosted by Prof. Van Helsing.

2017

Our performance at Arisia in January 2017 was another gender-swapped take on Star Trek. We adapted the episode “The Naked Time”, in which some contagion spreads madness among the crew of the Enterprise, causing them one by one to lose their inhibitions and threatening the crews lives as well as their sanity.
In April, the Post-Meridian Radio Players presented the beloved children’s story Peter Pan in an original adaptation for radio drama. (We had family-friendly fun activities before the matinées.)
In June, we reprised January’s gender-swapped Star Trek episode, “The Naked Time”.
In July, PMRP presented our seventh annual Summer Radio Mystery Theatre program, with radio-drama adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story ”A Scandal in Bohemia” and a gender-swapped adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”.
Our Halloween show was Tomes of Terror: Lenore!, featuring adaptations of works by Poe and other writers of Gothic horror.
For one weekend only in early December, we presented our original adaptation of the 1964 Christmas B-movie, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, of UHF and MST3K fame, in which Martians kidnap Santa Claus (along with a couple of Earth children) to bring joy back to their lethargic children.

2016

Our performance at Arisia in January 2016 was another gender-swapped take on Star Trek. We adapted the episode “Journey to Babel”, in which the Enterprise finds itself host to a number of bickering diplomats — including Spock's parents. When an alien dignitary is murdered, the prime suspect is Spock's mother! The crew must unravel the mystery as an unidentified vessel attacks.
In March and April of 2016, we presented an original full-length adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale of nonsense and whimsy, Alice in Wonderland, adapted by Mindy Klenoff and Jeremy Holstein and directed by Mindy Klenoff. For this performance, we managed to do all sound effects fully practical. The matinées featured games and activities for our younger audience members.
In June, we reprised our Arisia gender-swapped perspective on the classic Star Trek episode “Journey to Babel”.
2016’s Summer Radio Mystery Theater presentation was Revenge of the Super Sleuths, featuring Hercule Poirot in “Murder is a Private Affair”, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard in “The Irish Tweed Coat”, and Sherlock Holmes in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”
Our Halloween show, Tomes of Terror: Campfire Tales, wove seven tales told around a campfire into a richly creepy and horrifying tapestry.

2015

Our performance at Arisia in January 2015 was another gender-swapped take on Star Trek. This time we’ll be adapting the episode “Space Seed”, in which the Enterpise is menaced by a genetically engineered superwoman from 20th-Century Earth, Khan Noonien Singh, and Capt. Jane Kirk and Ms. Spock had to try to save the Federation from a return to the horrors of the past.
Our first Spring Adventure Spectacular (March 2015) featured gentleman-thief Arsène Lupin in “The Mysterious Traveler” and foppish English nobleman Sir Percy Blakeney saving French nobles from the guillotine as his secret alter-ego “The Scarlet Pimpernel”.
In June, PMRP reprised our Arisia performance of director Mindy Klenoff’s gender-swapped take on the Star Trek episode “Space Seed”.
In July, 2015’s Summer Radio Mystery Theatre show was Night of the Super Sleuths (Except When It’s a Matinée) featuring Hercule Poirot in “Death Wears a Mask”, “Lady Molly of Scotland Yard” in “The Frewin Miniatures”, and Sherlock Holmes in “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”.
In October, 2015’s Hallowe’en show was Monster in the Mirror, featuring original adaptations "The Frankenstein Murders" and "Dr. Jeckyll & Miss Hyde".

2014

Our performance at Arisia in January 2014 was a gender-swapped adaptation of the 1960s Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” featuring a harried Captain Jane T. Kirk and her science officer, Ms. Spock. There was an encore performance in May.
In July our annual Summer Radio Mystery Theatre presented "Super Sleuths!" featuring Hercule Poirot in "The Case of the Careless Victim", Lady Molly of Scotland Yard in "The Ninescore Mystery" and Sherlock Holmes in "Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Murders".
In October we featured Tomes of Terror: Nevermore containing four original adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe's works featuring "The Raven", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Fall of the House of Usher" and finally "The Cask of Amontillado".

2013

Our performance at Arisia in January 2013 was a reprise of “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, originally adapted for Lux Radio Theatre.
In April our Spring Sci-Fi Spectacular featured another episode of Red Shift, “Crisis of the Cuddlykins”, along with our original adaptation of the Atomic-age monster thriller “Them”.
In July our Summer Radio Mystery Theatre returned with a full-length Sherlock Holmes adventure with "The Sign of Four".
In October our Hallowe’en show featured of “Night of the Living Dead” in our original adaptation and our version of the Suspense! episode “Ghost Hunt”.
In December we presented the full-length Frank Cyrano and his gang in The Big Broadcast of 1962: A Byfar Christmas Carol.

2012

In May of 2012 we presented our Spring Sci-Fi Spectacular, with a reprise of our Red Shift episode “Havoc over Holowood” and our version of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” as originally adapted for Lux Radio Theater.
In July of 2012 we presented the the Summer Radio Mystery Theatre ’12, featuring our versions of “Gracie Takes Up Crime-Solving” from Burns & Allen, “Sorry, Wrong Number” from Suspense, and “The Hound of the Baskervilles” from CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.
And in October 2012 we presented three original works in Tomes of Terror: New Arrivals featuring “Shivers on Highway 61”, “The Crasher”, and “The Red Line”.

2011

Our 2011 season started with Doctor Who: The Starship of Madness at Arisia 2011 in which the Doctor encounters horrifying forces from hidden dimensions, with encore presentations in March.
In July of 2011 we presented Summer Radio Theatre ’11, featuring our versions of “The Do-Nothing Detective” from Black Jack Justice, “Junkyard” from X Minus One, and the classic Escape! episode “Three Skeleton Key”.
In October 2011 we joined with several other radio-theater groups around the country to present Sleepy Hollow: The Ride Across America as part of the Big Broadcast of 1954.

2010

It’s go time! Our performance at Arisia in January 20109 was an episode of our original series Red Shift: Interplanetary Do-Gooder, titled “The Upgrade Ultimatum”.
In October 2010 we returned to the Rooftop Gardens Auditorium of the old Putnam-Moore Department Store in downtown Boston for the Big Broadcast of 1946, and another installation of Tomes of Terror, presenting our version of “But Oh! What Happened to Hutchings!” and the original drama “The Sirens of War”.

2009

Our performance at Arisia in January 2009 was an episode of our original series Red Shift: Interplanetary Do-Gooder, titled “Dance of the Duplicates”. We were accompanied by the cast of Second Shift performing “Dreams”, and participated in a panel on radio drama in New England.
In October 2009 we went back to the Golden Age of Radio, to the Rooftop Gardens Auditorium of the old Putnam-Moore Department Store in downtown Boston for the Big Broadcast of 1938, including the true story of the Martian Invasion of Boston during the War of the Worlds!

2008

It’s go time! Our performance at Arisia in January 2008 was an episode of our original series Red Shift: Interplanetary Do-Gooder, titled “Havoc over Holowood”.
In October 2008 we presented Tomes of Terror 3, featuring our recreations of a Hallowe’en episode of The Baby Snooks Show and “The Tell-Tale Heart” as adapted for Nightfall and “Reynardine”, an original adaptation of Athan Y. Chilton's short story “The Ballad of Reynardine”.
And we closed out the year with another original Red Shift episode, “Countdown to Chaos”, and a reprise of our recreation of “Chicken Heart” for Boston’s First Night celebration.

2007

It’s go time! Our performance at Arisia in January 2007 was an episode of our original series Red Shift: Interplanetary Do-Gooder, titled “The Terror of Terra-Khan”.
In October 2007 we presented Tomes of Terror 2, featuring “Halloween Party” from Our Miss Brooks and “Carmilla” and “The Stone Ship” from Nightfall

2006

Our performance at Arisia in January 2006 was a recreation of the classic Lights Out! episode “Chicken Heart”. You can buy a CD at our CD Baby store.
In October 2006 we presented our first Tomes of Terror anthology, featuring “Gildersleeve's Halloween Party” from Fibber McGee and Molly and “The Maid’s Bell” and “The Monkey’s Paw”, both originally performed on Nightfall.

2005

In October 2005, we performed Chicken Hearts and Other Parts.