'War of the Worlds,' streamed radio-style straight to your device
- What
- 'War of the Worlds,' streamed radio-style straight to your device
- When
- 10/30/2020
The show must go on, but how does it go when the audience is at home or socially distanced? For students in James Peebles’ Junior and Senior IB Diploma Program Theatre class, it moves online while paying homage to a classic art form: the radio play.
“Theatre is more than a building,” Mr. Peebles says. “It is being creative and finding those creative outlets for performance. In these unique times, a radio play seemed like a natural direction to move in for my students. They still want to perform for an audience. Radio plays work so well in this scenario.”
On October 30, 1938, the original broadcast of Mercury Theatre on the Air rocked the country with the realistic dramatic retelling of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. Directed and performed by Orson Welles and his Mercury players, the broadcast fooled listeners around the country and cemented his stature as a creative genius.
High School Theatre Director James Peebles and his students pay homage to the 1938 show through their streaming performance in the style of a radio broadcast of that era, complete with sound effects, behind-the-scenes information, and satirical commercials.
“My students have risen to the challenge of vocal performance,” Mr. Peebles says. “They like the creativity it allows them to inhabit multiple characters and allowing the performance to come out purely through their vocal characterizations.”
Theatre students have been rehearsing via Zoom, some onsite for on-campus learning, with others distance learning at home.
The performance will stream on October 30, the same date as the original Mercury Theatre broadcast. It will stream for 24 hours starting at midnight on October 30 through 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 30.
There will be a $2.95 charge per device.
We hope you tune in for the “invasion”! Happy Halloween.