Today’s generation might be familiar only with Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise’s 2005 adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, but on Halloween Eve 1938, back when radio was the lifeline of the home, Orson Welles’ retelling of the sci-fi novel became the most infamous radio broadcast in American history. Many of the nearly 1 million people who tuned in to the CBS program were convinced that a meteorite had landed in New Jersey, sending an army of Martian invaders to eat them. Though Welles and his Mercury Theater assured listeners the program was merely a play (their “version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of the bush and saying ‘boo’?”), mass hysteria and even reports of suicide set in, to the delight of the press. Fake Radio re-creates that fateful night when aliens conquered the country, employing a cast of more than a dozen actors, period music and costumes. Since 1998, the local troupe has been re-enacting old radio scripts from the 1930s to the 1950s, including The Wizard of Oz, The Phantom of the Opera, It’s a Wonderful Life and All About Eve. Past guests have included George Wendt, John Larroquette, Fred Willard and Jeff Garlin. Trepany House at the Steve Allen Theater, 4773 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; Thu., Oct. 30, 8 p.m.; $20. (323) 666-4268, trepanyhouse.org.

Thu., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 10/30/14)

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