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The Kennedy Center Presents
 SITI Company’s
 Theatrical Adaptation of
 [The words: "War of the Worlds", and a drawing of a oldtimey microphone.]
Presented on the Millennium Stage February 8, 2000

VIEW THE ARCHIVED PERFORMANCE
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Background | The Cast | About SITI Company

[Photo of a SITI Company performer.]
Photo by Kate Raudenbush

The Kennedy Center was proud to present the internationally renowned SITI Company of New York City and its adaptation of radio’s most famous broadcast – Orson Welles’ and the Mercury Theater’s War of the Worlds – in a free performance on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2000 at 6 p.m. This show marked the Millennium Stage’s first full-scale theatrical production since its inception.

This performance was broadcast live on the Internet at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. The performance is available in our archive. [Requires RealPlayer]

The SITI Company first presented this version of War of the Worlds as a one-night-only show on October 30, 1999, celebrating the original 1938 broadcast, as part of the company’s ongoing investigation into the life and work of Orson Welles. Now, this radio classic comes to Washington, D.C., under the direction of Anne Bogart and Darron L. West.

[Photo of SITI Company performing.]
Photo by Kate Raudenbush

Mass hysteria seized thousands of radio listeners on October 30, 1938 as Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater broadcast Howard Koch’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds (Invasion from Mars). Even with several station and program identification breaks, this hour-long radio program convinced thousands that Martians were attacking Earth. Citizens swarmed the streets of New York in fear of a real space battle. Statements from the police as well as WABC radio quelled the panic spreading across the nation.

Now in its eighth year, the SITI Company began as an agreement between Tadashi Suzuki and Anne Bogart to establish a new venture in the United States that would emphasize international cultural exchange and collaboration. In March of 2000, the SITI Company will unveil its latest original theatrical production, also entitled War of the Worlds, at the 2000 Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky.