TWIS Asks: Jason Neulander, creator and director of 'The Intergalactic Nemesis'

With so many events and performances to choose from in the upcoming Ringling International Arts Festival (Oct. 15 through 18), deciding what to see can be a bit overwhelming. We've chosen one event that caught our eye in particular — "The Intergalactic Nemesis," which runs Oct. 16 through 18, in the Mertz Theatre ($35). This unique marriage of radio drama, comic book storytelling, live music and foley art is unlike anything we've ever heard of, so we reached out to the show's creator and director, Jason Neulander to find out — what exactly is "The Intergalactic Nemsis," anyway?

In the mid ’90s, I was running this theater company in Austin, Tex., and our whole mission was to develop new plays that would push the envelope of the theatrical experience. We were all really young — right out of college. We liked to play around with different, unexpected types of venues, like circus tents, that kind of thing.

A friend of mine, Ray Colgan, approached me with this idea for a sci-fi radio play performed and recorded in the coffee shop where he worked. None of us had done radio drama before. It's an old form, but for us it was brand new. And for me, the idea of a radio play meant no sets, no special effects — so it had a real low-budget appeal. I also loved the idea of telling a story in the same vein as "Star Wars" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

So we did it serially for about five weeks, and it was really quick and dirty.

How did it evolve from there?

I continued to run that company until about 2008. "Intergalactic Nemesis" was so fun that we'd bring it back every once in a while. In 2000, we rewrote it and reconceived it as an evening-length performance, then we wrote a sequel and a third installment. We decided we wanted to bring the project outside of the Austin city limits so we went back to the original and completely tore it to shreds and rewrote the entire thing to give it more of a movie structure than an episodic story arc. The plan was to open the show in New York City, on or off Broadway, but the producer didn't show up, and the whole thing was dead in the water. I had given up my theater company and put all my eggs into this basket.

So, out of luck and out of a job, I went to the Long Center, looking for a job to do anything. They ended up offering me the big hall for Intergalactic Nemesis — 2,400 seats. That was entirely too big for the intimate radio show experience, so in a flash, I came up with this idea to project comic book art on a big screen throughout the performance to help fill that space. And oddly enough, they told me they had just bought a cinematic projection system, and they needed to use it to justify buying it. It all came together perfectly.

What were you thinking in that moment — going from looking for any job to being offered that opportunity?

I thought it could be a total game changer. Not just for my career, but for the fact that this was such a unique thing that nobody had ever seen before. We had 2,200 people at the premiere, and I never looked back. Ten days after the premiere, we started booking our first tour. It was all so crazy.

The project has really taken off. You've been featured on Conan and NPR. Did you ever imagine the project would turn into something like this?

Never. I was just having fun squeezing as many people as I could into a coffee shop. Even now, I can't believe it. We booked our first tour in 2010, and that's right when comic book movies were really starting to blow up. I think that really helped us sell this idea. Venues saw it as a way to get younger audiences in the doors.

That's another thing; just the gamut of our audience. We have sort of a hipster, geeky appeal, but it's also very kid friendly, and there's the older crowd who really appreciates the radio drama. It's pretty incredible.

The performance is such a unique combination of elements: voice acting, live music, projected art and even foley artists. Why do you think people are so drawn to this?

It really is unique, and it's designed to be sort of a tour de force for every performer. There's only one foley artist creating hundreds of sounds throughout the show, live. It's remarkable. There are three voice actors, and at one point, one actor is voicing three different characters having one conversation. The cinematic score is done by one pianist, and there is a lot of room for improvisation. It's very reminiscent of a John Williams score. The story unfolds like a comic book, panel by panel. It's really unlike anything else.

What is the most rewarding part of seeing this project grow to this level of success?

Just seeing tens of thousands of strangers fall in love with the work. It was truly a labor of love, so seeing many other people fall in love with it is just unreal.

Why would you encourage people to come see the show?

Well, for one, there's nothing else like it out there. Secondly, it's ridiculously fun.