Howard Koch

Studio Theatre LI to Present PANIC ON THE FRONT PAGE in January
by Blair Ingenthron - Dec 17, 2022

The Mercury Theater of the Air broadcast about a Martian invasion, the process of putting it together and the reaction that followed, as well as myths about it and the media reaction, are the topic of 'Panic on the Front Page,' a new play being presented by Studio Theatre Long Island Jan. 13 to Jan. 29.

SITI Company Concludes Finale Season With RADIO PLAY Tour
by Stephi Wild - Sep 6, 2022

The award-winning SITI Company, a leading New York-based theater ensemble celebrated locally and internationally, concludes its Finale 30th Anniversary Season with the Radio Play tour, a series of three theatrical works inspired by the groundbreaking radio shows Orson Welles created with the Mercury Theatre in the late 1930s.

Lawrence Leritz, Bill McCauley & More to Join RICHARD SKIPPER CELEBRATES
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Nov 6, 2021

Broadway's Lawrence Leritz, Bill McCauley and Stephen Currens will join friends, family and colleagues to salute the life and career of the great ICM literary agent Mitch Douglas on Richard Skipper Celebrates (YouTube) this Saturday evening, November 6th, 2021 at 6PM est.

Benefit Re-Broadcast of THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING Starring Kathleen Chalfant to be Presented by Keen Company
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 7, 2021

Keen Company will continue the 2020-’21 Season with the benefit re-broadcast of The Year of Magical Thinking adapted from Joan Didion’s best-selling memoir and starring Kathleen Chalfant in a one-woman tour de force performance. 

Mid-World Players At The Found Theatre Presents Stephen Dolginoff's PANIC: A LIVE RADIO MUSICAL
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Apr 5, 2021

With special permission from Mr, Dolginoff, MWP were able to film a one-night only, filmed production, of this comedic musical, celebrating that momentous occasion where radio became a realistic event when Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre presented the infamous radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.

Former ICM Literary Agent Mitch Douglas Dies at 78
by Stephi Wild - Nov 20, 2020

Calvin Mitchell (Mitch) Douglas passed from metastatic brain cancer on November 5th, 2020 at Calvary Hospital, Bronx, NY. He was 78 years old.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS Announced at The Metropolitan Virtual Playhouse
by A.A. Cristi - Oct 28, 2020

A series of explosions on Mars is followed by an unidentifiable object falling to Earth in Grover's Mill, NJ. An invasion has begun, and is recounted through terrified first person radio broadcasts right up to its impossible conclusion.

Complete Cast Announced for Keen Company's Benefit Broadcast of WAR OF THE WORLDS
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 26, 2020

Keen Company's 2020-'21 Season will feature a series of all-star benefit broadcasts, beginning with Howard Koch's legendary adaptation of War of the Worlds made popular by Orson Welles followed by Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher, which was once called 'the greatest single radio script ever written.'

Joplin Little Theatre Presents THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
by Stephi Wild - Oct 26, 2020

Joplin Little Theatre will present The War of the Worlds, a fundraiser for JLT. Performances take place October 30 & 31, 2020.

VOTE THE NEW MOON, By Alfred Kreymburg Indicts The System At Metropolitan Virtual Playhouse
by A.A. Cristi - Oct 21, 2020

The groundbreaking reading series continues as Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse presents its next free 'screened' reading: VOTE THE NEW MOON, by Alfred Kreymborg, live-streamed at no charge, with talkback to follow, on October 24th, 2020 at 8 PM, EDT.

Jason Tam, Arnie Burton and More Announced for Keen Company's WAR OF THE WORLDS Benefit Broadcast
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 16, 2020

Keen Company's 2020-'21 Season will feature a series of all-star benefit broadcasts, beginning with Howard Koch's legendary adaptation of War of the Worlds made popular by Orson Welles followed by Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher, which was once called 'the greatest single radio script ever written.'

REPRESENTING T.A. BUCK Announced for The Metropolitan Virtual Playhouse
by A.A. Cristi - Oct 13, 2020

REPRESENTING T.A. BUCK, by Edna Ferber, read by Michèle LaRue has been announced for the Metropolitan Virtual Playhouse.

Keen Company Announces 21st Season HEAR/NOW, Featuring Five World Premieres and More
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 17, 2020

Today Keen Company Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein announced his plans for the upcoming season, their 21st.

L.A. Theatre Works' 'Family Collection' Offers Five Plays for Parents and Kids
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 21, 2020

Best known as the world's leading producer of state-of-the-art audio recordings of contemporary and classic plays, L.A. Theatre Works has put together a package of five productions that can be enjoyed by listeners of all ages.

BWW Review: THE WAR OF THE WORLDS at Kentucky Shakespeare
by Keith Waits - Oct 15, 2018

On October 30, 1938, just before 8:00 pm, Americans gathered around the radio to listen to Mercury Theatre On The Air, an anthology series produced and hosted by Orson Welles. That evening's program, scripted by Howard Koch, was a modern-day adaptation of H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds, one of the first tales of alien invasion, in which Martians emerged from meteors to lay waste to all of the Earth's civilizations. Except that Koch, with help from producers John Houseman, Paul Stewart and Welles himself, structured the program to play, at least in the first moments, as special news bulletins interrupting a normal performance by a dance orchestra. The ruse seems thin even for the time, but Hitler had 'annexed' Austria a few months earlier, and was threatening to do more, so the program struck a chord and the resulting panic in the area in close proximity - Welles' Martians landed in a New Jersey pasture, sent East Coast residents scurrying across bridges and clogging highways.