Shadow and Substance:
The "Twilight Zone"

October 22, 23 and 24
7:35 p.m.
October 25
2:00 p.m.

Tickets:  $10.00 for Adults, $8.00 for Students

by George Clayton Johnson
directed by Terry Pace

The Shoals production of Shadow and Substance celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Twilight Zone, the groundbreaking science-fiction/fantasy anthology created and hosted by the late Rod Serling.  The classic series ran on CBS from 1959 through 1964.

Original Twilight Zone writer Johnson – who also created the source story for Ocean’s Eleven, co-wrote the classic science-fiction novel Logan's Run and penned the first episode of Star Trek (“The Man Trap”) – will visit the Shoals and make a number of public appearances in conjunction with the Center Stage/Pillar of Fire production.

Johnson wrote the original Twilight Zone teleplays “Nothing in the Dark” (featuring Gladys Cooper and Robert Redford), “A Game of Pool” (with Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters), “Kick the Can” (with Russell Collins and Ernest Truex), “A Penny for Your Thoughts” (with Dick York) and “Ninety Years Without Slumbering” (with Ed Wynn). Three other episodes of Serling’s series were based on Johnson’s original stories – “All Of Us Are Dying,” “Execution” and “The Prime Mover.”

Director Steven Spielberg revived Johnson’s classic “Kick the Can” tale (with Scatman Crothers playing the leading role) for the 1983 Twilight Zone feature film.

In addition to Twilight Zone, Ocean’s Eleven, Logan’s Run and Star Trek, the 80-year-old author’s screen credits also include episodes of Route 66, Honey West and Kung Fu as well as the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated short film Icarus Montgolfier Wright, which he co-wrote with his literary mentor, Pillar of Fire co-founder Ray Bradbury.

“You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into … the twilight zone.” – Rod Serling’s voiceover introduction to his original series The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)