Last updated: July 8, 2023
Tony "Sparx" Palermo, also known as SPARX, is a radio dramatist/director, composer, engineer, sound effects artist and educator living in Los Angeles, California.
E-mail Tony at in Los Angeles, California.
Tony "Sparx" Palermo is an radio drama producer, performer and educator who has created radio dramas and workshops for commercial, public and satellite radio, audio-book publishers, the United Nations, the Museum of Television & Radio, schools and colleges. He performs and teaches across the U.S. and around the world. He produces, writes, directs, scores and does sound design for audio theatre works. His orientation towards sound, as a writer and also as a sound effects artist, inventor, and performer, sets him apart from many of his radio peers.
Tony has been blessed to collaborate with such stellar radio writer/directors as Norman Corwin, Peggy Webber, Dirk Maggs, Yuri Rasovsky, Roger Gregg, Eric Idle, Jim Metzner, Tom Lopez, Martin Jarvis, Rosalyn Ayres, and Lindsay Ellison. No slouch when in command himself, in 2005, Tony produced and directed the 60th anniversary production of Norman Corwin's On a Note of Triumph, perhaps the 20th century's greatest radio drama (an most-difficult to mount), for which he also re-created Bernard Herrmann's orchestral score.
Tony has appeared with many performers from old time radio as well as contemporary troupes. He hosts a Radio Drama Resources website, helping others to create and produce shows; offering instruction on script formats, scoring, engineering, directing and how to make sound effects devices. In 2006, he co-authored the radio drama production chapter for the book, Podcasting Hacks. He does digitally-based sound design, hosts seminars on the metaphysics of sound, and creates and sells mechanical sound effects devices, including those heard on public radio's Prairie Home Companion.
Originally from Ohio, Tony has worked in and around broadcasting since 1962, starting in a bootleg AM radio station, then on to commercial music stations, network TV affiliates, cable TV, local, network, and satellite radio. A love for classic radio drama led him to develop the Re-Creating Radio Workshops for the Museum of Television & Radio in Los Angeles (now called the Paley Center for Media). Tony performs throughout California with his Sparx Audio Adventures assembly programs. He sells scripts, musical scores and sound design throughout the world. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife--while their three noisy children have finally finished college.
Academy for Motion Picture Arts & Sciences - Masters of Sound - sound
effects artist
Laguna Playhouse - Dan Duling's Tesla - sound effects artist/sound
designer
California Artists Radio Theater - Norman Corwin's We Hold These Truths -
sound effects artist/sound designer
California Artists Radio Theater - Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie -
sound effects artist/sound designer
Sierra Madre Playhouse - Doug Cooney's Battledrum - theatrical sound
designer
Virginia Avenue Project - In The Bag (6 different plays) - sound
effects artist/sound designer
Royce Hall - pre-show entertainment - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza -
solo comedy & sound effects show
UCLA class lecture/demonstration - Arts Encounter - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza -
solo comedy & sound effects show
Theater 40 workshop - Arsenic & Old Lace and Baby Snooks'
Halloween - sound effects artist/sound designer
L.A. Theatre Works - Terry Johnson's The Graduate - sound effects
consulting
(national tour)
Village Church Community Theater - Rick Lowell, Private Eye - director/writer/producer
Film Slam arts festival - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza -
solo comedy & sound effects show
Sound Slam arts festival - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza -
solo comedy & sound effects show
American Cinematheque - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza -
solo comedy & sound effects show
Pasadena Playhouse - Dan Duling's Tesla - sound effect artist for
radio-on-stage production
L.A. Theatre Works - John Logan's Red - sound effects artist
(recording/audiobook)
California Artists Radio Theatre - Pride & Prejudice - sound effects
artist (recording for broadcast)
Brunswick Arts Council's Dickens Festival - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza -
4 performances - solo comedy and sound effects show
Tony "Sparx" Palermo's The Nativity Play - (stage-play, radio drama, pageant)
- writer/sound designer (multiple productions)
Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Auntie Scrooge - a BACKWARDS Christmas Carol -
writer/composer/sound designer (multiple productions)
Virginia Avenue Project - 20-Something - Part B (8 different plays) - sound
effects artist/sound designer
Virginia Avenue Project - 20-Something - Part A (7 different plays) - sound
effects artist/sound designer
L.A. Theatre Works - Terence Rattigan's
The Browning Version - sound effects artist
(recording/audiobook)
Eric Idle's What About Dick? - sound effects artist - theatrical film of radio-on-stage production
L.A. Theatre Works - William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet - sound effects artist
(recording/audiobook)
L.A. Theatre Works - Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon - sound effects artist (recording for
broadcast)
California Artists Radio Theatre - post-production on 5 plays for satellite radio - editing
Virginia Avenue Project - Out of the Blue (7 different plays) - sound
effects artist/sound designer
L.A. Theatre Works - John Osborne's Look Back in Anger - sound effects artist (recording for
broadcast)
Geffen Playhouse - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's adaptation of It's A Wonderful Life! - writer/sound effects artist/producer
L.A. Theatre Works - Michael Frayn's Copenhagen - sound effects artist (recording for
broadcast)
Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Lyres & Liars - a Festival of Greek Myths -
writer/sound designer
Virginia Avenue Project - Pass it On (7 different plays) - sound
effects artist/sound designer
California Artists Radio Theatre - Norman Corwin's 100th Birthday Tribute - editing, post-production (for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House - sound effects artist
(recording for broadcast)
Virginia Avenue Project - Just Desserts (6 different plays) - sound
effects artist/sound designer
L.A. Theatre Works - William Shakespeare's Hamlet - sound effects artist
(recording/audiobook)
California Artists Radio Theatre - Marvin Kaplan's Good House for a Killing - sound
effects artist, drummer (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - David Ives' New Jerusalem - sound effects artist
(recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals - sound
effects artist (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - William Shakespeare's Macbeth - sound effects artist
(recording/audiobook)
California Artists Radio Theatre - Norman Corwin's Together Tonight - sound
effects artist (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Anton Chekov's Three Sisters - sound effects
artist (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman - sound effects artist (recording for broadcast)
Tony "Sparx" Palermo's - The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow - writer, composer, sound designer
(multiple productions)
Welk Theatre - It's A Wonderful Life - live radio-on-stage production - director, writer, sound designer
California Artists Radio Theatre - 25th Anniversary Program (Shaw, Shakespeare, Miller, Baum, more.) - sound
effects artist (recording for broadcast)
Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) - Moliere's The Bungler - sound effects artist (recording for broadcast)
Virginia Avenue Project - Saved By The Bell (7 different plays) - sound effects artist/sound designer
Overtone Industries - Songs & Dances of Imaginary Lands (avant garde opera) -
sound system design and operation
Private recording session - Jonathan Koa's A Michigan 12 - sound effects artist
California Artists Radio Theatre - Norman Corwin's Mary And The Fairy and Murder In Studio One - sound effects artist/engineer (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Warren Leight's Side Man - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
Virginia Avenue Project - Buried Treasures (10 different plays) - radio drama workshop
California Artists Radio Theatre - Norman Corwin's Lady Liberty and Mary And The Fairy - sound effects artist (recording for broadcast)
Fowler Museum - Nick Cave's Meet Me At The Center Of The Earth - Art exhibit sound effects workshop
Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) - Moličre's Tartuffe - sound effects (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
California Artists Radio Theatre - Lady Gregory's Hyacinth Halvey - sound effects artist/engineer (recording for broadcast)
Thirty Minutes to Curtain - A Date With Judy and The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy (episodes) - sound effects artist/engineer
California Artists Radio Theatre - Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart - sound effects artist/engineer (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Neil Simon's California Suite - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
Prank Productions - Rosemary Alexander's Christmas in El Paso - sound effects artist/engineer
Theater 40 - Baby Snooks and The Thin Man (episodes) - sound effects artist/engineer
Los Angeles Public Library - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza - solo comedy and sound effects show
Native Voices - Arigon Starr's Red Road - sound effects artist
California Artists Radio Theatre - Ray Bradbury's Leviathan '99 - sound effects artist (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - George Packer's Betrayed - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
L.A. Theatre Works - Norman Corwin's The Rivalry - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
California Artists Radio Theatre - George Bernard Shaw's A Village Wooing - sound effects artist/engineer (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - War of the Worlds and The Lost World - sound effects design for national touring show
L.A. Theatre Works - Neil Simon's Broadway Bound - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
California Artists Radio Theatre - Seeds of the Abbey Theatre (Lady Gregory, J.M. Synge) - sound effects artist/engineer (recording for broadcast)
L.A. Theatre Works - Tom Stoppard's Arcadia - sound effects (broadcast/audiobook)
Overtone Industries - The Woman in the Wall - (avant garde opera) - sound recordist
California State Fair - Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza - 65 performances - solo comedy and sound effects show
California Artists Radio Theatre - The Wizard of Oz - sound effects artist/engineer
California Artists Radio Theatre - Seeds of the Abbey Theatre (Lady Gregory, J.M. Synge) - sound effects artist/engineer
SaddleBrooke Theatre Guild - Rick Lowell, Private Eye - director/writer/producer
Oakwood Gorilla Radio - Bat Gunderson, Frontier Proctologist and Lance Manion's Crimebusters - sound effects artist
Santa Clarita Playhouse - A Christmas Carol - director/writer/producer
L.A. Theatre Works - George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara- sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
Sparx Audio Adventures - The Threshold of Sound - writer/performer/producer
Eric Idle's What About Dick? - sound effects artist
California Artists Radio Theatre - Norman Corwin's Strange Affliction - sound effects artist
L.A. Theatre Works - Bertold Brecht's The Life of Galileo - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
New Mystery Writer's Festival - 6 different plays - sound effects artist/producer
Native Voices at the Autry's production of Arrigon Starr's Super Indian - sound effects artist
Blackstone Audio - Yuri Rasovsky's production of Aeschylus' Orestia Trilogy (audiobook) - sound effects artist
L.A. Theatre Works - Kevin Bunin's The Busy World is Hushed - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
Thirty Minutes to Curtain - Laurel & Hardy radio sketches - sound effects artist
L.A. Theatre Works - Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart - sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
San Francisco Exploratorium Sonic Storytelling Exhibit - (3 short plays) - writer/producer/composer
California Artists Radio Theatre - Peggy Webber's Two One Acts by George Bernard Shaw - sound effects artist
Virginia Avenue Project's - Signs of the Times - (8 short plays) - sound effects artist
California Artists Radio Theatre - Peggy Webber's Ruggles of Red Gap - engineer, sound effects artist, post-production (2 productions)
Blackstone Audio - Yuri Rasovsky's Sherlock Holmes Theatre - Audie Award winning audiobook - sound effects artist
L.A. Theatre Works - Neil Simon's Prisoner of Second Avenue - nationwide tour - producer/sound effects artist
Pasadena Playhouse - It's a Wonderful Life - adapter/producer/sound effects artist
(33 performances)
L.A. Theatre Works - A Tale of Charles Dickens- sound effects artist (live/audiobook)
About That Ark - writer/composer/director
Numerous "sonic singles" for downloads and podcasts - writer/composer/director
Colonel Frothingham, Intrepid Antiquitist - Egypped Again! - writer/composer/director
Jamison Selby's Revenge at Collinwood (Dark Shadows original cast radio drama) - sound effects
California Artists Radio Theatre - Peggy Webber's Reno - sound effects , sound design(recording for broadcast)
Los Angeles Radio Drama Network - >Norman Corwin's On a Note of Triumph - (60th anniversary production) - producer/composer/director
Public Radio International - Jim Metzner's Passover Dreams - sound design, scoring(recording for broadcast)
Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" - writer/composer/director (6 separate productions)
Theater 40 - Norman Corwin's The Plot to Overthrow Christmas - producer/composer/sound effects (2 productions)
Theater 40 - Norman Corwin's The Odyssey of Runyon Jones - producer/composer/sound effects
Jerome Lawrence & Stanley Rubin's Who Wants to Be Born These Days? - producer/composer/sound effects
Numerous appearances with The Liquid Radio Players, a Los Angeles comedy improv radio troupe
California Artists Radio Theatre - A.J Fenady's The Man with Bogart's Face - sound effects (recording for broadcast)
Thirty Minutes to Curtain - The Horn Blows at Midnight - producer/composer/sound effects
S.P.E.R.D.V.A.C. Convention - The Mysterious Traveler - Five Miles Down - composer/sound effects
National Audio Theater Festivals - Lindsay Ellison Silence Sophia - sound effects (with Tom Lopez producing)
California Artists Radio Theatre - James Joyce's Bloomsday Centennial- engineer, post-production (recording for broadcast)
National Audio Theater Festivals - Various audio theatre plays (2003-2004)- sound effects/direction
Thirty Minutes to Curtain - CBS Workshop - A Pride of Carrots - producer/composer/sound effects
Bel Air Drama Department - Nine OTR classics - producer/composer/sound effects (2 productions)
Wells Fargo Radio Theater - N. Scott Momaday's The Indolent Boys - sound effects (recording for broadcast)
Radio Manila - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Hare Dryer - writer/producer/composer/sound effects
Thirty Minutes to Curtain - Ray Bradbury’s Mars is Heaven - producer/composer/sound effects
Wells Fargo Radio Theater - Lori Tubert's The Prospect of Glory - sound effects (recording for broadcast)
National Audio Theater Festivals - Roger Gregg's adaptation of Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger - sound effects (recording for broadcast)
Los Angeles Radio Drama Network - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Rick Lowell - Private Eye: The Stuff Dreams are Made Of (parts 1-3) - writer/composer/director/producer
Thirty Minutes to Curtain - Lucille Fletcher's Sorry, Wrong Number - producer/composer/sound effects (2 productions)
Thirty Minutes to Curtain - Pat Novak for Hire - Go Away, Dixie Gillian - producer/composer
Wells Fargo Radio Theater - Lori Tubert's The Heart of Biddy Mason - sound effects
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Blast-Off! - Greetings from the Planet Killer - - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1996-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Grim Scary Tales: Crusade of Terror! - - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 2000-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Grim Scary Tales: The Pirate's Curse - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 2001-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Yuri Rasovsky’s Murder at Woodside Village - sound effects
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Hawk of the West: Injuns at Coyote Creek - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1997-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's In Old California: Golden Dreams/Golden Nightmares - writer/composer/director
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Inspector Rufflethorpe: The Twitshyre Murder Case - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1997-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Life's Little Ups & Downs - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1997-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Radio Ranger: Invaders from Earth - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1997-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Rick Lowell - Private Eye: The Stuff Dreams are Made Of (parts 1-3) - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1997-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Tony "Sparx" Palermo's Tales of Outer Space: Children of the Earth - writer/composer/director
Museum of Television & Radio - The Shadow: The Hypnotized Audience - - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1996-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - The Adventures of Superman: Zombies From Venus - writer/composer/director (dozens of productions 1997-2009)
Museum of Television & Radio - Shakespeare on the Air: Macbeth - adapter/director
Museum of Television & Radio - Shakespeare on the Air: Richard III - adapter/director
American Cinematheque - Radio Goes to the Movies - producer for film/radio-on-stage series
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