THE BLAKEFIELD PLAYERS PRESENT FAREWELL PERFORMANCE AHEAD OF EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL

The Loyola Blakefield Players will present a farewell performance of War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast by Joe Landry at Loyola Blakefield on Friday, July 28, before heading overseas to premiere the show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest arts festival. Loyola is traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland, as part of the American High School Theatre Festival, and is one of only 30 high school drama programs in North America to have been selected to perform at the Fringe in 2017. 

The Fringe Festival began in 1947 and quickly grew to become the largest arts festival in the world. The city of Edinburgh triples in population during the month of August. Last year, performers from 49 nations presented 3,314 productions at 313 venues, and over 2.2 million people attended the festival.

War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast features seven actors playing over forty roles in a recreation of the infamous Orson Welles radio broadcast of 1938, which dramatized the H.G. Wells’ novella about a surprise invasion of Earth by Mars. It is reported that over one million listeners believed the original broadcast to be true, and the show created a panic across America as people rushed to escape the fictitious Martian attack. Containing nearly 100 live and recorded sound effects and vintage radio commercials, this production pays homage to the golden age of radio.

The farewell performance will be held on Friday, July 28, at 8 p.m. in the Father Lloyd George, S.J., Lounge of Wheeler Hall on Loyola Blakefield's campus. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students and are available for purchase online or at the door.