At 9 p.m. tonight, “Roscoe Taylor: The Tallahassee Tween” and his bounty-hunting horse Checkers Justice will ride into the West of the imagination for the first in a series of adventures on KZSM.org.
This live old-style radio play is the brainchild of Garrett Buss, Texas State Theater Arts graduate and stand-up comedian. “Roscoe Taylor” blends two sources of inspiration— old Western radio plays like “Gunsmoke” and the comedy radio series “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.” The broadcast offers fun for both kids and adults: kids can enjoy the fantastic adventure, and adults will appreciate the allusions and references.
Buss writes the scripts, directs the broadcasts, and provides the narration. Roscoe is voiced by Sam Pierce, who “does a very funny thing with his voice, where he makes it sound like someone going through puberty—up and down,” Buss reports. Mitchell Odem voices the horse. Because Covid-19 precautions limit the number of people in the studio, the actors must take on multiple roles. “Sometimes we have a scene where one actor is playing three people are talking with two other people. They have to on the fly switch to the gruff voice, the high voice, the confused voice--but they’re all really, really talented.”
