Tonight is a Halloween-theme performance for Greene County Community Theatre.

Director Josh Tuel says they are re-creating the 1938 airing of the “War of the Worlds” by Orson Welles. Having been introduced at a young age, Tuel tells Raccoon Valley Radio the classic radio program was a family tradition that they listened to every Halloween and he was fascinated by how people across the US were captivated by the broadcast that people were in a panic. 

Tuel notes that when re-creating something that happened so long ago originally, he wanted to do the show where it is recorded ahead of time, but not have to be exactly like it was done in 1938.

“I mean, that’s the whole point to doing anything like this is giving people creative license to make their own choices and see where they go with it. And maybe, some of the takes that you hear are better than the originals. In my opinion, that’s always a possibility. Just because something is original doesn’t mean it is absolutely in cement as the best that it can be done ever.”

Andy McGinn plays the role of the field reporter Carl Phillips, who gives an eyewitness account of the first robotic invader from Mars. He describes one of his favorite parts about his character.

“There’s really no such thing as a spoiler alert (with “War of the Worlds”). It’s been done so many times over the years that you know what’s coming. And so I think it’s that anticipation of like, ‘Carl Phillips doesn’t yet know what’s going to happen. He doesn’t yet know that he’s going to be nuked. But nevertheless, I know.’ And so, my personally, that’s sort of like that’s where it got really exciting is sort of like trying to describe what it’s like to see something so other worldly taking place.”

The program will be on the Greene County Community Theatre and Raccoon Valley Radio Facebook pages tonight at 8pm for free for everyone to listen to.