CHS students re-enact landmark ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast

PALMER — Leave it to the Martians to choose Halloween to invade the Valley and annihilate the planet. If you believe everything you hear on the radio, though, you may have more than children dressed up as ghosts and goblins to worry about come Wednesday evening.

That’s when a collection of about 15 Colony High School students will recount the end of the world as we know it beginning at 7 p.m., in a live radio drama performance of “War of the Worlds.” Like the 1938 Orson Welles adaptation that caused brief but widespread panic when it first aired, the Palmer drama students hope their performance is believable.

If people tuning in to Radio Free Palmer’s station at 89.5 FM believe reports from the scene of what at first is believed to be a meteor crash on a farm near Sutton, “that would be awesome,” said Rebekah Laggis.

Laggis, a CHS senior, plays Carla Phillips, the first news reporter to respond to the meteor crash. She details the event for listeners until her abrupt death, which is when it’s finally revealed the meteor is actually part of an alien invasion force.

“I’m the on-scene reporter from when the meteor first lands,” she said. “Pretty much everybody thinks it’s just a meteor and I’m just reporting the news, then it just starts blowing people up and I die.”

Junior Erik Miller plays the role of Prof. Pierson, an adventurous scientist type from the Indiana Jones mold. Although he had heard of “War of the Worlds,” it was mostly from the 2005 Steven Spielberg movie remake starring Tom Cruise.

The first time I heard of it was the modern remake of the movie,” he said. “Then my dad told me how it actually came from a radio show.”

He’s since had a chance to listen to the first part of the original 1938 broadcast and said he understands why some people would believe its account of the invasion.

“I found that very impressive,” he said. “For me, I just have to say I can understand why Orson Welles definitely gets his name recognized. Sometimes I just want to play that and put Orson Welles’ part on repeat. He’s amazing.”

The production was inspired by a more elaborate effort last year when CHS presented “It’s a Wonderful Life” on stage as a radio drama, said teacher and director Brian Mead.

“That was a much larger, more robust production,” he said. “It was our first time doing radio drama. It was so successful and so popular we decided to do another radio show. I think radio drama every year is going to be a part of our season.”

Although the setting has been changed to have local appeal, Mead said the students are basically following the original Welles script, inspired by the 1898 H. G. Wells novel of the same name.

Although the performance is live radio, the players will also be in front of a live audience in the school’s theater. People can also watch the live performance online at radiofreepalmer.org.

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

What: Colony High School/Radio Free Palmer production of ‘War of the Worlds’ live on stage.

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Where: Colony High School theater

Eleswhere: The production will also be broadcast on 89.5 FM and online at radiofreepalmer.org.