CTG: Opens 71st Season with War of the Worlds Radio Play

To open its 71st Season, the Civic Theatre Guild is preparing a radio-style production of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, drawing inspiration from Orson Welles’ famous 1938 radio adaptation. 

While appearing on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse, Civic Theater Guild director Pollyanna Averett said H.G. Wells’ novel was originally published in England in 1898 before Orson Welles and his company transformed the story into simulated news reports describing a Martian invasion of New Jersey.

P. Averett

The program was broadcast by CBS on Oct. 30, 1938, and became famous for reports that some listeners believed the fictional invasion was real, although the extent of the panic has since been disputed. 

Averett said many of the themes explored by the novel and the radio program are relevant today as well as the media storm that followed. 

P. Averett

The Guild’s production will recreate the radio-drama format for a modern audience as Sheridan voice actors and Foley performers present the original script on the stage of the Carriage House Theatre.

Showtimes will be 7 p.m. on Sept. 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26 and 2 p.m. Sept. 13, 20, 27. Tickets are available through the WYO Theater, click here.