Cranford Radio

The Cranford Dramatic Club opens its 99th season this month with "The Wild Party." It takes you back to 1929 in New York City; a time of Prohibition and vaudeville. Cranford Radio stopped by the theater as the actors, crew and director prepared for opening night on October 13. We spoke with Sean Lough, the director and performers Colleen Renee (Queenie), Shane Long (Burrs) and Elizabeth Allen (Nadine) to hear about the production.

While many people enjoy the Christmas holiday, not everyone enjoys getting their house or business decorated. Christmas Decor of New Jersey comes to the rescue by working with home and business owners to design and install their holiday decorations. In this Cranford Area Chamber of Commerce member profile, Cranford Radio talks with Rich Johns, the owner of the business, to discover what it's like to live Christmas year-round.

Fourteen short plays and monologues make up the Cranford Dramatic Club's 2017 Short Play Festival. The performances will be held September 7th, 8th and 9th. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Northern New Jersey Chapter of GLSEN.

Three of those involved in the festival spoke with Cranford Radio about the plays; co-producer Edgar Hidalgo, David Christopher, who is both a director and a performer, and Renee Celeste, an actor in two of the plays.

It's a first for the Cranford Dramatic Club. The CDC will be hosting the Hispanic Theatre Festival July 28-29 and August 4-5. Two one-act plays will be presented, Ana y las Langostas and Bony y Kim.

Cranford Radio paid a visit during a rehearsal to speak with Joel Redmount, founder of the festival, Alicia Dolinsky, the playwright of Ana y las Langostas and Valarie Beckford of Cranford who is playing the grandmother and also served as a translator for the interview.

Keep listening after the end of the interview to hear a taste of Bony y Kim performed by Milagros and Mareri Cortes who are the narrators in the show.

When the Cranford Historical Society was formed in 1927, Cranford had only been in existence 56 years as a township. A group of forward-thinking individuals, though, saw much more history in the community's future and today what they started is still going strong. Cranford Radio met with four members of the organization, Gail Alterman, Vic Bary, Christine Glazer and Patricia Pavlak to learn a bit about the history of an organization that's all about history.

Summer will be here soon and parents and kids are already planning what they'll be doing during those lazy, crazy days. One option is being part of a play. On Stage Theater Camp gives kids the chance to learn what goes into putting on a production. Mike and Patty Altmann, both veteran teachers, are the owners, and in this Cranford Area Chamber of Commerce member profile they tell us a bit about what they offer.

There's no shortage of musical talent coming out of Cranford High School. That's not only true of graduates but of current students, as well. Madison Panno is a junior at CHS and this weekend she released her first album, Music Speaks. Cranford Radio sat down with Madison just a couple of days before the album came out to talk about the album and about being a musician.

What do you do if your job keeps you out of the house for eight hours of the day, or more, and you have a dog that needs some exercise and a potty break while you're gone? If you live in the Cranford area, We Leash the Hounds is here to help. The business is owned by Morgan Jenkins and Ryan Yorke. In this Cranford Area Chamber of Commerce member profile we sat down at the Downtown Family Restaurant to talk about the business and their love of dogs.

If you had to pick two musical sounds that are more different, you'd have a hard time topping metal and opera. Cranford High School grad, Geddy Warner, is doing just that. In this Cranford Radio interview the NYU Steinhardt School junior talks about his upcoming opera performance in France and his local metal band, No Kings Among Wolves.

In less than 12 hours Cranford will be going from spring-like weather to a big winter storm. The National Weather Service is predicting six to ten inches of snow for the Cranford area. The Cranford Office of Emergency Management has put together these tips in advance of the storm.