Theater Takes Center Stage at SAC with 'War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast'

In the 10 years since the Southampton Arts Center opened its doors, it has showcased an incalculable amount of art by talented East End painters, photographers, sculptors and other artists, and though live performances have appeared on the calendar from time to time, the new Center Stage at Southampton Arts Center partnership is finally thrusting theater into the spotlight. The 2023–2024 season kicks off this weekend, October 21–22, with War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast, a Joe Landry radio play based on the classic H.G. Wells novel.

Formerly Southampton Cultural Center’s resident theater company, Center Stage was in need of a new home when directors Michael Disher and Joan Bennett Lyons reached out to SAC Executive Director Christina Mossaides Strassfield earlier this year. The Center Stage team pitched a four-season schedule of theatrical weekends, including radio plays, staged readings and original works and were given the green light to begin the series as part of the SAC 10th anniversary programming.

“We met and, within one hour, realized we had the same ideas and ideals regarding off-season theatrical events presented for and by the community,” Disher recalls. “It’s a new approach — fewer rehearsals and fewer performances. I’m hoping this generates more interest from local performers who cannot commit to lengthy rehearsal and performance schedules.”

This new approach has already proven its potential with an “unexpectedly exciting” audition process for War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast. “I was surprised at the number of people interested in auditioning,” Disher, the show’s director, shares. The final cast includes a balance of familiar and fresh faces, he notes, including Richard Adler, Daniel Becker, Richard Browning, Susan Cincotta, Joey Giovingo, Vincenzo Harty, Jenifer Maxson, Matthew O’Connor, Franco Pistritto and Michael Lynn Schepps.

H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds has been a popular and influential book since its publication in the 1890s, but it didn’t reach its legendary level of infamy until the ill-fated Halloween 1938 radio broadcast that sparked hysteria among listeners who didn’t realize that the apocalyptic events being described were simply fictional entertainment.

“Most people believe all they see or read, and our beliefs and opinions will most likely lean towards a particular news outlet that echoes our sentiments. However, without fact, opinions are exactly that and cannot or shouldn’t be construed as fact,” Disher says of the parallels between the 1938 broadcast listeners and today’s media consumers. “War of the Worlds was presented as a fictitious radio drama, but without hearing the introductory disclaimer, was considered truth. It was also considered careless and dangerous. Now 85 years later, this Halloween, it is still discussed and debated. Current media content can also run the gamut from enlightening to destructive. Hence, there is great responsibility shouldered by those whose words and pens influence the masses.”

War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast is the latest live radio play to be produced by Center Stage, the repertoire of which includes holiday radio plays of Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life. “Holiday shows have happy endings. WOTW doesn’t need one. Rightfully so, for media influence is continuing and perpetual. There is no catharsis, denouement or conclusion, but the thoughts generated, I hope, will invite discussion for many days following the show’s closing,” Disher shares.

“The art of listening is lost. Many talk, but few listen. If one listens, one may learn,” he continues, touching upon the power of live theater, and specifically radio plays. “There is also the reciprocity between audience and radio players that invites participation, commiseration and debate — all healthy aspects of any production. It may sound ancient or archaic, but I was raised in an era when many tales, truths, history and fables were passed along through stories told, often face to face.”

Following the thought-provoking Panic Broadcast, Center Stage will reignite its holiday show tradition with an original Christmas show written by Disher and Joe Landry, The Big Christmas Show: A Musical Radio Play, on December 9–10. Set on Christmas Eve 1950, a star-studded variety broadcast takes an unexpectedly heartfelt turn to “embrace holiday optimism, humor and spirit,” explains Disher, who will direct the SAC production.

The final Center Stage at Southampton Arts Center production announced thus far is a staged reading of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, directed by Joan Bennett Lyons, on January 27–28. She will also direct an unannounced spring show on April 13–14.

“The space is unique and beautiful and can adapt itself to the demands of any production,” Disher notes of the expanded creative possibilities brought on by Center Stage’s new home at the Southampton Arts Center. “Our intention here is to provide quality affordable theater during the presumably less hectic off-season months. The space is inviting, historic, intimate and welcoming. The format and formula are somewhat different, but Joan, Christina and myself are confident that our combined decades in arts administration and presentations here in the Hamptons might, just might, have found a new recipe for satisfying the needs and demands of performers and audiences alike.”

SAC Executive Director Christina Mossaides Strassfield echoes the sentiment, stating, “We are truly looking forward to working with this accomplished team in bringing live theater to the Southampton Arts Center.”

The three showtimes for Center Stage’s War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast production at the Southampton Arts Center are Saturday, October 21 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday, October 22 at 2 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit southamptonartscenter.org.