February 27, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — “Bodylove,” a new radio drama produced by the UAB School of Public Health, the Department of Theatre and the Honors Program, will debut at 6 p.m., March 5, on WJLD 1400 AM. “It’s a radio soap opera designed to be entertaining while providing listeners with important information about their health and health issues affecting their community,” said Connie Kohler, Dr.P.H., associate professor of public health with the Department of Health Behavior in UAB’s School of Public Health.

The community is invited to join the show’s crew for the premiere broadcast of “Bodylove,” 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., March 5, at WJLD, located at 1449 Spaulding-Ishkooda Road in Birmingham. In addition to weekly broadcasts, audio files of episodes and additional information about the show are available on the “Bodylove” Web site at www.bodylove.org.

The storyline will air in 15-minute segments during Rev. Don Solomon’s weekly program, “Your Community, Your Health,” sponsored by the UAB School of Public Health. “Similar programs combining entertainment and health education have been very successful in other countries and are growing in popularity here in the United States,” Kohler said. “Encompassing health messages into an entertaining drama is an effective way to share information with people who perhaps otherwise would not receive it.”

Bodylove is the name of the hair salon in the fictitious community in which the drama unfolds. “More than 100 names were suggested, but as work on the first scripts progressed, we kept coming back to ‘Bodylove,’” said Lee Shackleford, playwright-in-residence with UAB’s Theatre Department. “The more we wrote, the more the title seemed to fit with what the show is all about — loving one’s own body. To some, it also may suggest loving someone else’s body too, which also happens in the series.”

Scripts are written by UAB public health, theatre and other students enrolled in an honors course taught by Kohler and Shackleford. “The class studies methods of teaching health behavior as well as dramatic structure and tricks-of-the-trade in radio writing,” Shackleford said.

Episodes are recorded locally at Boutwell Studios. Theatre Professor Will York directed the first five episodes. The cast, including students and local acting professionals, features UAB students James Whitson II as “Kevron,” James A. McCarty Jr. as “Saul,” and Audrey Quinn as “Vanessa.”

More information about the drama is available by contacting Connie Kohler at ckohler@uab.edu or (205) 934-6020, or Lee Shackleford at leeshack@uab.edu or (205) 975-8755.