The Catskill Chronicle

Seth Wegener, Catherine Peters, Drew Maier, Dylan Reno, and Sam Sedlack – Santa’s Elves and Assorted Characters.

JEFFERSONVILLE – Look, up in the sky. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the Starship Enterprise…

No, that’s just Santa Claus and his new experimental warp-drive sleigh. His Science Elves loaded it with futuristic technology, and now Santa is using it for the first time on Christmas Eve.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, if it’s like any other holiday radio play by WJFF’s Youth Radio Project (YRP), everything could go wrong. Everything probably will go wrong. To hear the hilarious results, all you have to do is tune to WJFF – 90.5 FM at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 23 and listen to Radio Revolution, the region’s only weekly youth-produced radio show.

This is the plotline for “Across the Santaverse,” the YRP’s seventh annual X-Mas X-Travaganza on WJFF. So, you know the teens, mentors, and YRP alumni behind the scenes have a lot of experience with this sort of thing.

It all began in 2003 with “A YRP Christmas Carol;” the play that started it all: an 11-minute romp through the oft-repeated Dickens Christmas Classic. It’s the same story, but everything is different.

Scrooge is greedy, but for presents, not money. The Ghost of Christmas Past goes too far into the past. The Ghost of Christmas Future doesn’t go far enough into the future. And for some reason, the Ghost of Christmas Present is a pirate.

The first full incarnation of the YRP is the cast here: Amanda Martins as Narrator, Dylan Grunn as Cratchit, Emily Gref as Flem, David Lundgren as Marley and "Arrrt," founding member Allison Coe as G.O.C. Future, Zack Rettoun as our first-ever Santa, and starring Alex Duke as Scrooge. Written by Alex Duke, Dylan Grunn, and the YRP. Edited and mixed by Jason Dole.

“We always write our own original play, and it’s always a comedy that satirizes the secular aspects of Christmas,” says YRP Adult Coordinator Jason Dole. “So, that usually means making fun of Santa. We basically torture him each year.”

Just look at the YRP’s most recent radio comedies.

In 2006’s “Judge Frosty,” the Youth Radio Project put Santa on a daytime courtroom television show, trying him for “breaking and entering” and “voyeurism.”

Poor Santa. In this play, the YRP takes him to trial on the popular daytime courtroom television program, Judge Frosty’s Courtroom Justice. Grandma says she got run over by Santa’s reindeer, the reindeer says Santa is cruel to animals, and there are many other accusations.

Is Santa "Naughty" as charged? Listen and find out in this 2006 original play conceived by the YRP, written by Johnny T, Eric D, and Jason Dole, starring Victoria Harman as Judge Frosty and Alex Duke as Santa.

One of three separate plays produced for Christmas, 2006, X-Mas Royale aired while the hit James Bond movie Casino Royale was still in theatres.

Conceived and scripted by 007 fans Dylan Grunn and Jason Dole, this spy movie spoof sees James Bond hard at work saving Christmas from sabotage. Actually, he just drinks a lot while investigating the disappearance of Santa’s naughty list.

X-Mas Royale was mixed and produced by then YRP alumni David Lundgren and Jason Dole. It runs 26 minutes. Part One is presented here, while Part Two can be heard here.

In 2007, Santa was tricked into starring in a celebrity weight loss show while nefarious forces conspired to take over the North Pole.

"Santa Vs. The Media" Part One and Part Two finds Mr. Claus under lots of scrutiny from reporters. Racked by scandal after scandal, Santa flees to LA to be on a reality TV weight loss show. In response, a lonely Mrs. Claus starts her own reality dating show.

Meanwhile, it seems like someone really is trying to sabotage Santa. Is it Marty, his handler? The simple-seeming Rudolph? The Love Doctor? Talking cookies?!?

"Santa Vs. The Media" Part One and Part Two starred R.J. Smith as Santa, Sommer Johansen as Mrs. Claus, Eric D as Marty and Rudolph, and John Taylor as Vinnie, The Love Doctor, and The Magician. Conceived by the YRP, written by Victoria Harman, Sommer Johansen, and Jason Dole, edited and mixed by Victoria Harman, John Taylor, and Jason Dole.

In last year’s “Santanomics,” the North Pole was out of money and Santa had to lay off all of his elves under an inept government bailout program.

The process of writing an all-original youth radio play is often as wild and crazy as the stories themselves. The group brainstorms the ideas together, then multiple writers begin work on different parts of the play. The students, adult mentors, and YRP alumni all collaborate on the writing, performance, recording, and editing of the final story.

This year (2009), faced with severe budget cuts in a bad financial year, the YRP entered play-writing season with only two regular members. However, like a made-for-TV Christmas miracle, by the time December rolled around the group was up to 10 members; representing five separate school districts in Sullivan County.

“We don’t do anything like this play all year long,” explains Dole, who says Radio Revolution usually consists of reviews, interviews and discussions.

“The play is a unique project that we all work on. It builds the group, brings us together, and in terms of the learning experience, it’s a quantum leap for the students.”

Perhaps it’s no surprise then that the 1980s show “Quantum Leap” was a partial inspiration for “Across the Santaverse.” Faced with too many possible plotlines this year, the students put Santa on a headlong journey through the Multiverse. After a warp drive malfunction, Santa is stuck jumping from one alternate reality to another. There is a world where people are made of springs, and another where toys get children for Christmas.

In “Across the Santaverse,” Santa must face mobsters, misfits, fitness gurus, and even a hippy-dippy version of himself.

Will Santa get back to his own reality? Will he ever learn to use his inter-dimensional cell phone? Tune in to “Across the Santaverse” to find out.

“Across the Santaverse” debuts on community radio station WJFF – 90.5FM in Jeffersonville at 9 p.m. Wednesday, December 23. After that, it will be available on WJFF’s archives at wjffradio.org. You can also hear “Judge Frosty” and the YRP’s X-Mas X-Travaganzas for 2007 and 2008 on the archive. Just click and listen to the 12/9 and 12/16 editions of Radio Revolution.

WJFF’s Youth Radio Project’s “Across the Santaverse” also streams live online. Just go to http://www.wjffradio.org/wjff/ and click Listen Online to hear the show as it happens.