TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

'War of the Worlds' to be performed at Stage West

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARSHA REINIERS Hernando Today correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 23, 2009

On Halloween night, l938, from the studio of the CBS radio network, was a broadcast that stunned everyone who listened in, and caused panic in the northeast. What was meant to be an episode of the America radio drama anthology series "Mercury Theater on the Air," directed and narrated by Orson Welles, of an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel "The War of the Worlds," and a Halloween "boo" prank - became so much more.

Stage West will present "War of the Worlds" exactly as it happened in l938 for two performances on October 30 and 31 at 8 p.m. in the Forum Theater, and it will be done as a Readers Theater. The theater has had great success with two previous Reader's Theater shows, actually selling out. The last one was an original play "Hot Coffee and Live Bait." Reader's theater is a style of theater in which the actors do not memorize their lines. Rather they interact with one another as they hold their scripts and read through the script together. In Reader's theater, actors use vocal expression to help the audience to understand the story. Sets and costumes are generally minimal, but there will be sound effects and special lighting to help set the stage.

"This is a nostalgic thing for us to do here at Stage West," said Director David Stenger. "The ability to use our imagination while listening to this old radio show is so exciting. It's one thing to put on a play, and quite another to hear the story and use our imagination to create the images in our mind."

The 1938 show was broadcast in the form of a news bulletin format, with Welles' in the role of a live radio news reporter. The program was so realistic that many listeners thought an actual Martian invasion was in progress. Later, many people became angry because they felt that the news bulletin format was deceptive. The broadcast made Welles' a household name in radio and television.

The news program takes on an ominous turn as, following a daily weather report, there are news flashes about strange explosions on Mars. Stenger says that the sounds will all be re-created by sound designer Dalton Benson, and will include the explosions, the humming of the invading vehicles and the sirens of the fire engines as they race to the scene. Suddenly, a meteorite lands in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. As a crowd gathers, the meteorite unscrews, and onlookers see a pulsating, barely moving Martian. As the crowd watches in stunned silence, the Martian incinerates the crowd with 'heat rays.' Shouts about flames are cut off in mid sentence. Regular programming breaks down as the 'newsroom' warns of casualties among the firefighters. The New Jersey militia is called out and a wing of bombers is brought in to attack the invaders.

Stenger has selected 22 actors to be the voices of the story, with Dalton Benson as the narrator, Paul Wade as Phillips, the reporter who initially reports the Mars invasion, and Jason LaVoy as the famous astronomer and Princeton Professor Pierson. Other character voices include the firefighters, the military personnel, and on site reporters. Tom Venable plays the farmer who owns the farm that the Martians landed on in Grover Mills.

Stenger feels this is a great show for people who would like to relive the nostalgia of old time radio, and that the Halloween holiday only adds to the suspense. The show will run in its entirety for 60 minutes, with no intermission.

"War of the Worlds" a Readers Theater Presentation runs October 30 and 31 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5, and can be purchased by calling the box office at 683-5113, or stop by the box office at 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd, Spring Hill. Box office hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The box office is also open one hour prior to each show.

Marsha Reiniers writes regularly for the Hernando Today Out & About section. She lives in Spring Hill and can be contacted at Marsha@LTC-FLA.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT