On Oct. 30, 1938, a fictionalized radio broadcast of aliens invading Earth sent Americans into mass hysteria.

The show was “War of the Worlds,” written by H.G. Wells and broadcast by Orson Welles. The story has been retold, most recently by Steven Spielberg in his 2005 film.

Saturday, an adaptation of the famous tale will be performed at the Classic Center while it simultaneously broadcasts on WUGA radio.

The University Department of Theatre and Film Studies wanted to do a radio play and thought of “Worlds.”

John Kundert-Gibbs, associate professor of drama, found two problems in the original script.

“It was only 45 minutes, which is too short, and it was really outdated,” Kundert-Gibbs said. “I thought it would be cool to do something current, expand it and bring it up-to-date.”

The Department decided Kundert-Gibbs should rewrite the script so as not to pay royalties.

“I read a whole bunch of aftermath and incorporated real people into the story and how people reacted to the situation,” he said.

Two of the real situations include a teen driving 150 miles to get his girlfriend and the story of a survivalist up in the mountains.

“The second is a quieter act, telling the story, slowly finding each person,” he said. “The first act is the chaos and destruction and human reactions.”

“WUGA does not often tackle live broadcasts from remote locations. The logistics can be overwhelming,” said Robb Holmes, program director of WUGA.

“We’re depending on [Kundert-Gibbs] and his cast and crew to do most of the work, and that’s a very comfortable relationship.”

To prevent mass hysteria again, the program frequently will mention that the broadcast is fiction and not a news report.

“The listeners will hear something convincingly real,” Kundert-Gibbs said. “The sound effects are all kinds of crazy stuff, like a peanut butter jar on a fan and crushing watermelons.”

“It’s a hybrid of a radio play and a staged play,” said Brandon Wentz, a graduate acting student from Warsaw, Ind.

“We portray the characters, but there is no set, not much staged movement, minimal props and minimal actual physical interaction between the characters.”

Wentz plays both Philip Carls, the reporter on the scene of the attack, and Bill Foster, a radio technician.