War of the Worlds

Seventy years ago, on October 30, 1938, the Martians 'invaded' Grover's Mill, New Jersey in Orson Welles' radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds", adapted by Howard Koch. Introduced as part of CBS Radio's "Mercury Theater on the Air" program, some radio listeners heard only a portion of the broadcast, and in the atmosphere of tension and anxiety leading to World War II, took it to be an actual news broadcast. And although Welles himself broke character at the end of the broadcast and assured audiences that what they had been listening to was nothing more than a 'dramatization' offered in the spirit of Halloween, real panic indeed ensued; newspapers reported that people were fleeing the area, others thinking they could smell poison gas or could see flashes of lightning in the distance.

This legendary radio broadcast will be recreated on stage at The Barn Theatre in Montville, NJ on October 17 and 18, 2008 with a 70th Anniversary staged reading of the "War of the Worlds" radio drama as it was orginally performed by Orson Welles & the "Mercury Theatre on the Air."

To add to the sense of "radio drama", the Saturday night, October 18, performance will also be simulcast on HomeGrownRadioNJ (www.homegrownradionj.org), a web-based non-profit organization dedicated to bringing great music and personality to the Global Music Community.

Performances are at 8pm on October 17 & 18; tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door, although reservations are recommended. To make a reservation, call the Barn Theatre Box Office at (973)334-9320 or email boxoffice@barntheatre.org .

Opening Night: Friday, October 17, 2008 - Closing Night: Saturday, October 18, 2008