The Old Pros "Old Tyme Radio Theatre"

The Old Pros are channeling in three radio broadcasts from the ‘40s and ‘50s, including “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” to live action at the Laguna Woods Performing Arts Center.

Using a mix of acting, radio script, music and live and recorded sounds, the two-hour show will feature “The Bickersons,” a comedy in which a high-strung woman wakes her husband to complain about his snoring, and “The Great Gildersleeve,” another comedy in which a character seeks distraction from doing income taxes. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” finishes the show, a radio dramatization of the sci-fi movie in which an alien visits the planet and warns humans against war.

Audiences will be able to not only watch their favorite radio broadcasts come to life on stage, but also watch the live sound effects using the methods radio shows did back in the day.

“We try to do as many live sounds as possible,” John Perak, director of “The Bickersons,” said. “This is the way that shows were done in the ‘30s and the ‘40s.”

Ben Holtman directs “The Great Gildersleeve” and Carol Shallin directs “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

As actors perform the shows reading from broadcast scripts reworked to fit the stage, the live-and-recorded sound performers will work from the side of the stage so audiences can watch how the process works.

Eveline Hoffman, 80, is one of the sound performers who uses props such as tea pots and fake doors to add sound to the show.

“We do the sound effects so when you were listening to a radio show in the olden days, in the ‘50s or ‘40s, you heard everything, so your imagination was there,” Hoffman said. “We let you see what you were hearing in those days — that’s why it’s called the live radio show — the sound is as important as the speakers.”

The mix of sound performance and acting complement each other, like how a frame does with a painting, Hoffman added.

John Kelsall, who plays the alien in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” has never done a radio show on this level before and said it can be a challenge at times.

“What is unique is you have to make sure that you’re not only listening for your key sounds and trigger points from other actors, which is usually a line, and now you have to look for time for the sound to get in — the timing is the whole thing,” Kelsall, 67, said.

Johnnie Leveque, 72, worked 40 years in sound for Hollywood and is the conductor of the sound orchestra throughout ‘“Old Tyme Radio Theater.” Having worked such films as “The Fugitive” and “Under Siege,” Leveque has won several awards and emphasizes the importance of sound.

“It’s absolutely necessary with the visuals so great, the sound has to equal the visuals,” Leveque said.

Perak, 77, said audiences can look forward to the nostalgia of the radio era, when television didn’t exist and children used their imagination to entertain themselves.

“I think people can look forward to the nostalgia of remembering when they were younger and listening to the radio,” Perak said. “I grew up in that era — we didn’t have television until I was 10. I remember listening to the radio, and I love radio because it (has more emotion) and you have to use your imagination.”