Independence Day: The Stage Version

By our guest blogger, Colin George

The news may sound straight out of “Be Kind Rewind,” but a real-life team of students from the Savannah College of Art and Design have chosen Roland Emmerich’s “Independence Day” as the latest in a series of no-budget, tongue-in-cheek stage adaptations of Hollywood blockbusters. Under the name Old Murder House Theater, the group is spearheaded by Sam Edison, who writes and directs the shows.

Edison’s team is an offshoot of the Savannah fimmakers' War Room Collective, and has already brought Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” and an auspicious double-billing of “The Lion King” and “Predator” to the boards, and that’s just Act I of their creative endeavor.

Edison has plans to bring his low-fi versions of “Independence Day” and “Jurassic Park” from Murder House’s new home in Austin coast to coast, with stops in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and of course, Savannah. But Edison isn’t content to just rest on his laurels, either. “We’re going to Savannah in March to do ‘Men in Black’ and ‘Aladdin,’” he says.

With his clear affection for the nineties, the possibilites are rich for future Edison/Old Murder House Theater productions. I'm personally holding out hope for “Braveheart.”

You can check out a clip of Edison's "Independence Day" below. Thanks to Cinematical.

ID4: Off Broadway from Samuel Eidson on Vimeo.