Hi.  I'm writing a series of radio plays and have finished the first script (52 pages) and  have started the second (of five plays that make up season 1).  First off I'm wondering how to tell how long the play will actually run.  Is it safe to assume that one page equals about a minute?

Also I'm wondering about how to portray the passage of time.  Most of the plays take place in Prussia in 1764, and while a few of the plays or scenes from the plays take place in the present day where I can use simple tricks like radio news broadcasts to use as transitions between different times of day  that are set in the same location but I'm having trouble coming up with ways to to do the same thing in 1764.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm also trying to do as much research on the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Year's War as they helped shaped Prussia and will be talked about, but I also want to create a series of battles that take place during these two events.  Since this is the first time that I have used real world events in a story I've written (having mainly written fantasy stories) are there any pitfalls or traps that I should be aware of, or things that I could do to make the job easier?  Also I want to avoid being placed in the position of having to use specific battles and try and shoehorn my characters in, but I want the battles and situations I create to be believable and am unsure how much detail I need to include.  Has anybody done this before?

Thank you very much for all your help.

Sincerely,

David