Anchorage Daily News

"Raven's Radio Hour" dishes out a saucy bit of theater built on the impish beak of Raven and fermented in the meaty arena of Western drama and Alaska Native storytelling and tradition.

In this original production by (and at) the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Jack Dalton plays Raven as the straight man rather than the cunning giver of light known for cracking a joke when cracking open a dumpster. Dalton's awkward charm works wonders while leaving the best jokes and gags to the Alaska Native Heritage Center Players.

The gist of the piece involves Raven as a radio man cavorting with mischievous elders while enacting modified Alaska Native stories and real-life experiences via radio drama, comedy and pitches for sponsors like Aunt Edna's Ultimate Ulu and Sally's Seal Oil in a can.

The script by Dalton and director Ed Bourgeois turns one story into a parody of Shakespeare, another into a detective drama set on Kodiak Island and still another into a "Who's on first?" spiel grounded in the give-and-take of ego and grace. Throw in Broadway and a masterful send-up of an old hippy tune ("Where Have All the Penguins Gone") and you've got a variety show with wings.

The radio detective drama offers one of the show's highlights, with Ethan Petticrew as the stoic, stern narrator who relays the story without missing a beat. Lines like "If she hadn't been so goddamn beautiful, I would have been creeped out" make the story of a bear woman accessible to anyone, even the family from Ireland on its way to Adak.

Petticrew pulled off wonderful work when tackling both the muscular and delicate elements of his many roles.

Equally as versatile, Allison Warden played the naughtiest of aunties while jumping into roles like the rapper "Juliet" and the woman who sends a message full of tangents, asides and demands on public radio.

Taking on several parts, opera singer Christina Gagnon rounded out the cast by using her voice in Broadway tunes and even a rather wayward take on an opera classic.

Meanwhile, Yaari Kingeekuk negotiated sound effects as the quiet but unabashed stage manager.

Dalton and Bourgeois must have been in stitches as they wrote "Raven's Radio," fitting in everything from Eskimo ice cream and oosiks to an earnest bit about a contemporary Alaska Native couple trying to connect with old ways while navigating the organic food aisle. They got good mileage out of the ever-beloved walrus appendage, which kept popping up in the strangest places.

While getting the production under way a few weeks ago, Bourgeois described the show as dinner theater with irreverence, a kind of "Tundra Home Companion," but "Raven's Radio" comes across as far less cloying than that. It may take a while to get started -- it's called "Raven's Radio Hour, a two-hour show" -- but it honors parody, tradition and the origins of both.

Find Dawnell Smith online at adn.com/contact/dsmith or call 257-4587.

RAVEN'S RADIO HOUR will be presented at 7 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday through Sept. 16 (except this Wednesday and Sept. 8) at the Gathering Place in the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $20 (330-8000, www.alaskanative.net) with the option to buy a preferred-seating package with a full meal and gratuity. IF YOU GO TO 'RAVEN'S RADIO HOUR': On-site dining options include caribou stew, seafood chowder, salmon mousse with Pilot bread, an appetizer plate and several desserts. The show is recommended for people 16 and older. Cabaret seating is available for groups of two to eight.

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