Stage Portrayal of Ray Bradbury Begins National Tour

Author Ray Bradbury, lauded for half a century on book covers as "The Worlds Greatest Living Science Fiction Writer" (a blurb he hated) is getting the solo stage treatment in a new multimedia show authorized by the writer's estate. Ray Bradbury Live (forever) features Emmy-winner Bill Oberst Jr., best-known for playing monsters and monstrous humans on CBS' Criminal Minds, FOX's Scream Queens and in over 100 horror films, in a performance composed entirely of Bradbury's own words. The show begins a national tour this month, following a successful Off-Broadway staged reading and Los Angeles debut.

Besides excerpts of classic Ray Bradbury works (including The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes) performed by "Ray" himself, the show uses large-screen projections designed by Christopher Cooksey and an original score by Brian Lee to explore the ideas of a man who often said, "I don't predict the future - I try to prevent it."

Oberst, who spent two years assembling the script from Bradbury's vast body of published works, interviews and speeches, with script advice from IUPUI's Center For Ray Bradbury Studies Director Dr. Jonathan R. Eller, says he wanted to avoid what he calls "the Wikipedia dead celebrity show" and so took a non-biographical, non-linear approach to the material. "This is about Ray Bradbury's ideas, not his life," said Oberst, "It is a show about what he has left us to ponder. Is there reason to hope? Ray says yes. I say yes. And I'm grateful that his family and estate said yes to this project."

Ray Bradbury Live (forever) is performed by permission of Ray Bradbury Literary Works and Don Congdon Associates, Inc. Bradbury, who died in 2012, would have been 100 years old in 2020. Information on the show and its touring schedule may be found at RayBradburyLiveForever.com