90.7 KFSR radio will help celebrate Fresno County’s Sesquicentennial with the broadcast of an historical radio play, “The Cry for Water” – a dramatization of a clash between Valley farmers over water rights along the Kings River in 1883. 
The play, which was written decades ago by Stan Harth, was recently discovered in the KFSR archives. It is based upon information supplied by early Valley pioneer Ernest J. Nielsen. In a story that isn’t all that different from those in the news today, the play tells the story of two rival groups of farmers, those of the Fresno Irrigation Company, led by Moses Church (after whom Church Avenue is named) and the Centerville and Kingsburg Canal Company, led by William Shafer. Both groups had been hit with an injunction from the Tulare County Superior Court, forbidding them to take water from the Kings River for their farms. In a true story that reads like something out of an old Hollywood western, both sides take matters into their own hands, and the conflict quickly escalates. Produced by 90.7 KFSR, the cast includes members of the local radio theatre troupe The San Benito Street Players, and includes Fresno State students, faculty, and staff. The play is directed by Stephen Barile. 

The San Benito Street Players Cast:
William Shafer: Donald Fischer
Matthew (fictional): Raffi Checkerdemian
Moses Church: Stephen Barile
Lawyer: Bill Erysian
Bill Moffett: Ronald Morris
Capt. Bratton: Don Priest
Judge: David Aus
Narrator: Jim Wilson
Sound Effects:Joe Moore

Listen the the Cry For Water (MP3)...