The Hitch-Hiker is the tale of Ronald Adams, an average motorist, who sets out to drive from Brooklyn to California and who early on his journey begins to encounter a strange and inexplicable hitch-hiker. His efforts to explain, then avoid, and finally destroy the constantly appearing figure along the highway carry him through several episodes and many states until the adventure finally culminates in an amazing and terrifying climax in New Mexico.

By: RUTH LEPPER - For the North County Times, May 3, 2006

There are not actually two plays being performed at PowPAC, now known as Poway's Community Theatre. Instead there is one play set in a radio studio where two plays are being recorded.

The clever theatrical idea was dreamed up by playwright Lucille Fletcher. The two radio plays ---- "Hitch-hiker" and "Sorry, Wrong Number" ---- take place in 1948 in a CBS recording studio in New York City. The lights are left on in the PowPAC theater while the audience is thanked for coming to the radio recording and introduced to the cast ---- by their actual names and not as their stage characters.

While most of the script is read by the actors standing at the microphones, the actors are on their own for body language and making their performances compelling for an audience to watch.

Gordon Tucker and Rick Wayne, as announcers Harlow and Hap, have excellent radio voices. And that's the key to this play ---- voice inflection and projection.

Duane Leake, portraying Orson Welles as the main character in "The Hitch-hiker," also has a superb voice for both his characters. Renee Levine comes across with the right amount of class portraying Agnes Moorehead reading as Mrs. Stevenson in "Sorry, Wrong Number."

Both of the suspense-filled mysteries are well-known favorites. Listening to the stories, instead of seeing the plot acted out, is a different way of viewing live theater. Director Robert Hitchcox has done well with this production.

George Blum, Leslie Drew, Jamie Haire and Rob Tyler comprise the quartet of "CBS Players." They, too, have perfected their radio voices, often switching from one character to the next without stepping away from the microphone.

David Farlow is in his prime, doing double-duty as sound designer and the onstage sound-effects operator. Sharon Bowen brings her expertise as a stage manager to the stage, instead of staying behind the scenes.

Set designer Barbara Seagren knows how to create a realistic radio studio. Lighting by Chad Oakley aims the spotlights right where they belong. Costume coordinator Lynn Walker hits the mark with fashions from the 1940s. Emily Awkerman is the pianist, adding spooky music at all the right places.

Co-producers are Sherrie and Joel Colbourn.

In keeping with the mystery concept, PowPAC opens its 2006-07 season on June 16 with "Let's Murder Marsha" and brings another play by Lucille Fletcher, "Night Watch," to its boards next January.

By Michelle Diaz, May 3, 2006
Poway News-Chieftain

With its production of Lucille Fletcher's "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "The Hitch-Hiker," PowPAC, Poway's Community Theatre pitch-perfectly captures the feel of an era.

The two consecutive plays take place on the re-created set of a CBS radio broadcast station in 1948, and the performance is done as a "show within a show" - every actor plays a voice-over actor playing a character. "Sorry, Wrong Number" features Renee Levine as movie star Agnes Moorehead playing Mrs. Stevenson. The overwrought invalid overhears plans for a grisly murder when telephone wires apparently cross.

Radio-play format is foreign to most, so it's fascinating to note the ways in which a story is told with actors and lines but no visual references. "Sorry, Wrong Number" accomplishes this through a mixture of telephone conversation and monologue. Levine is supported by the vocally talented CBS players, portrayed by George Blum, Leslie Drew, Jamie Haire, and Rob Tyler. Tyler embodies the greatest number of characters, and he does quite marvelously with a wide variation of comically - and perfectly - rendered accents.

The best performance of the night is done by Duane Leake, whose voice has an incredibly perfect tone as he inhabits the role of Orson Welles. Taking the lead in "The Hitch-Hiker," Leake speaks with a horror and realism that one could imagine used in the telling of an Edgar Allan Poe tale. Welles is playing Ronald Adams, a young man who embarks on a cross-country road trip and repeatedly encounters a mysterious and frightening hitch-hiker while traveling through sparsely populated areas.

This show alone proves that both the on-stage and behind-the-scenes teams at PowPAC are masters of the period piece.

"Sorry, Wrong Number" and "The Hitch-Hiker" run through May 21. For show times and ticket information, call (858) 679-8085 or visit http://www.powpac.org.