LAKEPORT — In memory of Joan Holman and Walter Robinson, who both died in 2009, KPFZ will present an original radio production of “Driving Miss Daisy during Thanksgiving Week.
“Driving Miss Daisy” will air as a one-hour play, followed by an hour of interviews and commentary, at 2 p.m. Sunday Nov. 22; 9 p.m. Monday Nov. 23; 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24; and at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26.
The play stars Holman as Daisy Werthan and Robinson as Hoke Colburn, Daisy”s driver. Derrick Harvey plays Bodie Werthan, Daisy”s son. In 2003, during its run on stage in Lower Lake, the play was sold out and ended with standing ovations every night.
During an interview that airs after the play, Joan Holman says that she had “eight decades of experience on the stage” before she played the part of Miss Daisy. She got her start as an actress at the age of 7, and stayed involved in the theater throughout her life, even while she was working as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle for 30 years. When she retired to Lake County, she was involved in the Ukiah Players Theatre for 10 years before she became involved in the Lake County Repertory Theatre. About acting, she says, “The character has to come from the actor. I knew Daisy, and I became her.”
Ginger Ingersoll, the producer, says that one of the qualities she liked about the play was that it would give an opportunity for both Holman and Robinson to portray interesting characters. She says, “Miss Daisy is not a feel-good play. It”s about a relationship between two unlikely friends – a Jewish woman and an African-American man.”
In the after-play interview, Mary Howe, the play”s director, says that she has been involved in show business since she was five years old, growing up in Los Angeles and then studying radio and TV in college. She owned and operated dinner theatres for many years before she moved to Lake County. She says she”s a bookkeeper by trade, and “I”m into detail.” Directing “Miss Daisy” gave her an opportunity to project this story through “one of the best casts I”ve ever had.”
