As we all know, live theatre has been on hold since March due to the pandemic. But that isn’t stopping the VHS Spotlight Players from producing a fall production!

Of course, this year, it looks a little different. Well, actually, it doesn’t look like anything at all. This week they are presenting their first ever radio drama.

What is a radio drama? Before television, the main source of news and entertainment were radios. On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on Air presented their radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds, a novel written by H.G. Wells about Martians invading Earth. The show is set up as a normal news broadcast, and was so realistic that it actually caused nationwide panic.

The cast includes (in order of appearance) Audrey Ng, Emily Wynne, Grace McMahan, Jack McHugh, Faith Brolly, Griffin Willner, Maria Serra, Maddie Suk, Aaron Richards, Fiona Church, Sarah Wynne, Sophia Greco, James Shorten, Amanda Visone, Leila Brolly, Anthony Ostermayer, Caity Eng, Sophia Nunez, and Ali Zanders. Notable crew members include Daphne Glatter as stage manager, Stephanie Zimany and Buster Shick as assistant stage managers, and Cailan Compierchio as assistant director. Other crew members include Alyssa Abello, Krystal Costa, Colvin Kramer, Nolani Lloyd, Jimmy McHugh, Alexia Popolizio, Carly Renna, Nadine Sharabi, Maura Shea, Nixon Shick, Liv Tedesco, and Ceili VanDerzee.

Rehearsals took place over Google Meet nearly every weekday for a month, and final recordings were submitted last week. The show streams on December 10, 11, and 12 at 7:30pm with a 2:00 matinee on the Dec. 12 on Broadway On Demand. You can use this link to learn more about streaming and purchasing a ticket:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13TEIUmfvpaWsQUEoJL7Ez7M33hmQcWUSdc-h6hkJvXc/edit 

The entire team is so excited to share their hard work with you and are very thankful for being able to put on a production despite all of the challenges that are being faced.  The Spotlight Players extend a huge thank you to Mr. Munoz for putting this together and making theatre possible even in the pandemic! Updates on the spring production are soon to come.

Don’t forget to tune in December 10, 11, and 12 at 7:30pm and/or Dec. 12th at 2:00pm to stream The War of the Worlds presented by the VHS Spotlight Players.