The Villages Theater Company has been producing virtual media on YouTube for some months. The resident theatre club is gearing up for its first live play in over a year after a long wait.
“The War of the Worlds” will be performed at Mulberry Grove Recreation Complex on July 23 at 2 p.m. and July 24-25 at 7 p.m.
The play is based on Orson Welles’ radio drama from 1938, which was based on H.G. Wells’ novel. According to club leader Judy Prior, the format will allow for social distancing if necessary.
“All our actors have been vaccinated, people in our crew – I don’t know anyone that hasn’t been,” Prior said. “But this is a (recreation) of a radio show so they were standing at individual mics anyway. That’s why we picked it – because it would be like that either way.”
The piece is framed as a newscast about a Martian invasion of New Jersey. When the radio played the first broadcast, several news outlets stated that it sparked alarm among listeners who mistook the invasion for a real one.
“It’s kind of famous,” Prior said. “So we thought people would be interested if they hadn’t seen it performed before.”
The club has been producing plays in the “movie” style since October of last year, which have been shot and uploaded to YouTube.
“Curve Appeal in The Villages,” “My Favorite Husband,” “Get a Job!” and, most recently, “The Best of Shows-To-Go” were among the plays.
Prior described the 1,800 views of “Curve Appeal” as respectable.
However, she said that she is looking forward to making human connections and, “just feeling that we’re kind of back to normal and seeing the audiences, hearing their reactions and seeing the actors be able to get up there and do what they love to do,” Prior said. “Streaming and making movies, ask any actor, it’s isolating because you don’t have a reaction right away, and that’s a big part of community theater is the audience being part of it.”
The club’s previous live show, “A Visit From Scarface,” was performed in January of last year, and they were practicing for the next one when COVID forced them to halt production.
Following “The War of the Worlds,” the club will stage “Strangers on a Train” at Mulberry Grove in October.
For more information about forthcoming productions, go to the official website, thevillagestheatercompany.com.
