They say that video killed the radio star, but in Please Return to Empire Video, it was the DVD that killed the video cassette.

Lunchbox Theatre’s latest play is taking audiences back to 2003, when the VHS was on the way out and the DVD was becoming the reigning champ—a half decade before Netflix started mailing out movies and to catch a Friday night flick it was either going to the theatre or the local video store.

The setting is Empire Video, a local video store where three movie buffs are trying to pack up the store’s VHS tapes in time to catch the premiere showing of The Matrix Reloaded. But just like that film, not all is as it seems.

James Odin Wade, the playwright for Please Return to Empire Video, said that although he didn’t want to spoil the play’s twist, but the theme of how we remember the past and our nostalgia for different times played directly into how he approached writing the show.

“In 2003, I was probably 14, I was a little younger than the characters in this play, but there was a local video store in my neighbourhood and it was going through the exact same thing that this video store was going through, where all of their American locations were just dumping tons and tons of VHS on this place, and they were just trying to get rid of them, rent them, sell them, whatever,” he said.

“One of my dad’s students was working the till, and so he let me rent whatever I wanted. That summer before I started having summer jobs, I would just read 10 tapes at a time.”

He said that led to working those media-adjacent jobs at places like Rogers Video, HMV, and at a movie theatre.

He said that desire to play with the idea of memories also influenced the selection of The Matrix Reloaded as a plot point. That movie, which was panned at the time by critics and audiences as being a subpar sequel to The Matrix, has become something in a more mixed light said Wade.

“I think partially because The Matrix had such a devout fan base and spawned a whole subculture. I very easily related to characters who loved that movie and were so excited for the sequel as I was,” Wade said.

“When I was in Grade 10, I went to a midnight screening of The Matrix Reloaded. It was the biggest deal to get invited a friend was working at the movie theatre as a projectionist. I got to be their plus one, it was like incredible. I think the anticipation was just of that movie was just so big.

“Now, looking back on it, I think people have mixed feelings about how the movie came together. I’ve sort of come full circle on loving it, but I thought it was very interesting, and also maybe gives you some hints about the world of the play that it set in as well.”

Community collected more than 1,500 VHS tapes for the set

Director Bronwyn Steinberg said that the setting and the characters in the play were so relatable to most Calgarians’ experiences from that era.

“People who love movies, whether they have them on VHS or are streaming… people who love a certain kind of genre, they are unabashedly nerdy about it. I think we can, anyone can appreciate that,” Steinberg said.

Lunchbox Theatre, leading up to Please Return to Empire Video, called on their theatre community to donate as many VHS tapes as they could to help build the set.

Steinberg said that they were able to collect more than 1,500.

“It was really fun when Hanne Loosen, our set designer, had this idea to make this giant wall of VHS, and we were like, ‘OK, that’s really cool, but where are we gonna get them?'” Steinberg said.

“It only takes a few people that have some full boxes in their basement. We had one amazing volunteer, Lynette, who had about 450 [tapes] so that got us a long way there. But yeah, it was really cool to see how much people came out and wanted to help.”

Please Return to Empire Video runs from March 25 to April 13, at Lunchbox Theatre. Tickets are on sale now at www.lunchboxtheatre.com/please-return-to-empire-video.

The company is also running a legacy ticket pricing for its 50th season, offering $1 tickets at the original price that Lunchbox charged in 1975, and a legacy discount price of $19.75 for the Sunday, March 30 performance. Those tickets are only available through the box office.