Studio Theatre LI to Present PANIC ON THE FRONT PAGE in January

It was almost Halloween and Orson Welles needed a script for his radio show. He was busy rehearsing for a production of "Danton's Death," about a French revolutionary. They needed something fast.

Welles reached out to his head writer, Howard Koch (who would later become famous for his work on "Casablanca" and other movies). The result became "The War of the Worlds" newscast, one of the most storied, and possibly mythologized and misunderstood, radio broadcasts in history.

That Mercury Theater of the Air broadcast about a Martian invasion, the process of putting it together and the reaction that followed, as well as myths about it and the media reaction, are the topic of "Panic on the Front Page," a new play being presented by Studio Theatre Long Island Jan. 13 to Jan. 29.

Suffice it to say, the story presented at the Manes Studio Theatre, 41 S Wellwood Ave, Lindenhurst, goes beyond what you may think you know.

It looks at the process (and personalities) leading up to the broadcast and examines the reaction that followed in a behind-the-scenes story about Orson Welles at the prime of his powers.

David Dubin directs this production with a script by Claude Solnik. The show stars Evan Donnellan as a young Orson Welles, Giovanni Marine as Howard Koch, Gail Merzer Behrens as Ora Nichols (the sound effects executive so crucial to the broadcast) Dan Sheffield as Houseman and Don Frame as a CBS executive.

"What fascinated me about this play was that I learned that there was more to this legendary episode in radio history than what I had always heard," David Dubin said. "The actual hoax was not perpetrated that night, but the day after."

"Panic..." started out as an account of "The War of the Worlds" production about a mythical Martian invasion, as the Nazis began their painfully real invasions in Europe, but soon transformed into a story of something more than an adaptation of an H.G. Welles story.

"A real war was starting when Orson Welles did this broadcast," Solnik said. "The more I researched the broadcast, the more I realized that things may not be quite the way they appear. 'The War of the Worlds' is a great broadcast, but it's also surrounded by a lot of misconceptions."

Studio Theatre Long Island presents new work along with classics and contemporary plays. Solnik is a journalist and playwright in residence at Theater for the New City, in Manhattan.

"Panic..." brings together a cast of actors who have performed at Studio before, providing a window into the pressures and dramas that go into producing theater - whether for radio or stage.

The play looks at how Welles and his team dealt with CBS executives before the production, modifying place names, bringing in a live band to add texture to special effects.

Donnellan plays Welles at the peak of his powers, hardly ever going home as he found himself between the theater and his radio show. Half prodigy and half prize fighter, Welles was an actor, but also a creator who spearheaded projects around the world.

It also looks at interpersonal relationships, including Orson's love-hate relationship with Ora Nichols, one of the few high-ranking women in Hollywood at the time.

"She's a forgotten figure," Solnik said. "Ora Nichols was a strong, successful woman who, now and then, clashed with Orson Welles. The war, fireworks and collaboration between Ora and Orson, two very strong personalities, are part of this play as well."

A sound effects pioneer in radio broadcasting, Ora Nichols, played by Merzer Behrens, was the first woman to lead a studio's sound effects department, devising sound effect methods.

"This play is about a group of people who, almost inadvertently, made history," Solnik said. "But if you think you know the story, you may find out that it could be very different from what you believe."

Donnellan portrays Welles at a crossroads, while CBS faced threats of lawsuits and possible action from regulators. In the process, Welles found himself under attack by Hearst newspapers.

"That conflict may have planted the seeds for what became "Citizen Kane" based on or at least partially inspired by Hearst," Solnik said.

Houseman, played by Sheffield with a sometimes soothing, sonorous accent as a counterpoint to Donnellan's Welles, advances and assists in the effort to create a realistic broadcast.

Don Frame's CBS executive, the voice of reason against Donnellan's Welles', somehow gets dragged forward into a broadcast that, one way or another, causes havoc.

Of course, all's Welles that ends well here, as Welles somehow escapes huge consequences and CBS manages to avoid more than a slap on the wrist.

Audiences may find that the source of the panic goes beyond the broadcast itself in ways that feel familiar today with a hoax that isn't quite what you have in mind.

"The story of this broadcast is one that may seem eerily familiar today," Solnik, a journalist and playwright, said, "especially when you find out what wasn't reported in the news those first few days and what, just possibly, really happened."

Panic on the Front Page, Studio Theatre Long Island, 41 S Wellwood Ave, Lindenhurst, NY 11757. January 13-January 29. A behind-the-scenes look at the creation and aftermath of Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. $30-$35. (631) 226-8400

 

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