Franklyn Seales

The old saw was that if aspirin had just been invented, people would think of it as a wonder drug. Then the report on aspirin's usefulness in checking heart attacks came out, and people realized that it was a wonder drug. It's the same with radio. We know that it can dispense news, weather and sports. We forget what magical things it can do with drama. "We" means Americans. The BBC has never pulled the plug on radio drama, as can be heard twice daily (3:30 and 7 p.m.) on KCRW Playhouse.

As we slip into what looms as the dawning Age of Uncertainty, 1990--with its censorship battles and financial struggles--has left us its own kind of chill. In light of this, it is ironic that 1990 was in so many respects an artistically superior year in Southland theater.