War of the World a Live Radio Play with onstage sound effects. Adapted from Orson Welles' 1938 Radio Broadcast from New York's Mercury Theatre, this infamous radio play, based on the novel by H. G. Wells, had many terrified listeners convinced that an actual alien invasion of Earth was taking place. Adapted by Howard E. Koch, co-writer of Casablanca, and directed and narrated by Orson Welles, our play is from the original script detailing the frightening tale of an extraterrestrial takeover.