“THE ENEMY OF ART IS THE ABSENCE OF LIMITATION.”

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

Art thrives in conditions of limitation. This past year, we have certainly had plenty of that! The challenge was creating a theatre production without sharing a stage with each other… Or an audience. Rather than folding to the virus, surrendering our yearly theatre production for the year, I took this as an opportunity to do something a little different. Growing up, my family would listen to radio theatre programs as we road tripped across the United States. To this day, I appreciate how radio theatre provides the audience with a blank canvas for the visual imagination with the colours of voice actor choice and sound effects. 
The story that we tell through sound is not a new one. Indeed, Orson Welles broadcasted one of the most recalled (albeit misremembered) versions of the story in 1938-; however, in today’s world of crisis, catastrophe, and prolific misinformation, I believe that this story can have profound resonance with our listeners’ experiences.
The story of this idea began last summer when I saw an image like the one on the left. The year 2020 has been a year of devastating hardship and disappointment for many people in our local community and our global community. As we slog through 2021, we hope for a better tomorrow than today. May we be stronger and more resilient through the challenges of this time. Invading extraterrestrials had better watch out: we aren't colonized easily.