ANACONDA, Mt. — In 1938, Orson Welles terrified the world with his radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. Now, the Anaconda Ensemble Theatre plans to do the same thing with their stage production of War of the Worlds.
AET Director Jackie Vetter is more than excited to celebrate theaters' fifth anniversary.
The AET has made quite a splash the Smelter City – a town of just under 10,000 people.
“I travel around a lot and people literally will recommend my own company to me when I tell them where I live. They go, ‘there’s a really cool theater company in Anaconda. You should go work for them.’ And I’m like that’s my own company,” Vetter said.
Vetter started AET in 2022, and its premier production was War of the Worlds. She's bringing it back for the spooky season of October for a production that combines elements of an old radio drama and live theater.
“What we’re creating is probably the least scary part of the thing, but the actors are so good at describing what they’re seeing that we make up something that’s even more terrifying in our own mind’s eye,” she said.
Vetter put together a diverse cast that includes actors from around the state. Jessica Kennedy from Butte has not been involved in acting since she was a child.
“I feel like it’s a new adventure for me, a new chapter, maybe, in my life. I’m excited to see where it will take me,” Kennedy said.
Dave Coleman will be providing the music for the show that features popular music from the early 20th Century.
“We come and we all work together, we’re all creative and we bring what we can to make the production better,” Coleman said.
The show runs from October 9th through the 11th at 7 in the evening at the Montana building in Anaconda at 200 Main Street. Tickets can be purchased at online at anacondaensembletheatre.com.
