Tonight, The Long Center will be host to Intergalactic Nemesis Book One: Target Earth, a live-action graphic novel incorporating illustrations, voice acting and live sound effects. Set in 1933, Nemesis tells the story of a journalist, her assistant, and a mysterious stranger who fight nefarious invaders from beyond the stars.

The show began in the mid-90s, with a radio play written “on a lark” and staged in a small coffeehouse in downtown Austin. Immediately the response was overwhelming.

Jason Neulander, writer and director of the Intergalactic Nemesis series, recalls: “I couldn’t predict what was going to happen with the project, but I did have a sense that something was going to happen. The first week we did it more people showed up than could fit into the room.”

Over time the show’s audience—and the story—grew as Neulander looked for new ways to explore the lives of the characters he had created. With modern science fiction branching out into so many different subgenres—speculative fiction, steampunk and space opera just a few—Neulander tells a story in a style that recalls earlier performance tradition.

“I wish I had that genius to plan things to that degree," he says of Intergalactic Nemesis' retro style. “One of my favorite things about this show was that it all happened organically.” Neulander and the development team watched Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark to find storytelling models and inspiration for the show. After they crafted the story, heir major break came when the Alamo Drafthouse agreed to allow them to workshop their project, screening portions before and after the movies.

Neulander said he intends to work on the show for the foreseeable future, revealing that he has already written Robot Planet Rising and Twin Infinity, the next two books in the series.

After touring around the country, the company is finally returning home to Austin. “It’s really exiting to be part of such a hot show. At this point it is running like a machine and there’s a sense that everyone wants to go to the Long Center and just knock it out of the park,” says Neulander.

While the mix of graphic novel, stage show and radio play may sound like a lot to take in, Intergalactic Nemesis has something for every audience. Neulander explains that science fiction and comic book fans tend to be attracted because of the subject matter, but that the Intergalactic Nemesis experience also touches the grumpy and the reluctant: “I have heard anecdote after anecdote from parents who went to the show to humor their children thinking, you know, ‘Oh, I gotta do this for a few hours for my kids,’ and then coming out after the show with a big grin on their face. They usually buy a CD, the comic, and a few toys to boot.”

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Watch video of past performances and read more about the show here. Tickets to Intergalactic Nemesis at the Long Center are available here.