Corn Stock Theatre will present the beloved American classic holiday story of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play one night only on Saturday, December 19th at 7:30 pm. The production transposes the holiday cinematic classic movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed with a clever twist thrown in: the story is staged as a live radio broadcast: Seven actors portray numerous characters, and sound effects are done by two Foley (sound effect) artists.
Director Anna Oxborrow has always loved the holiday classic and the lesson we learn from it when she stated, “It’s a Wonderful Life has a beautiful lesson behind it, that we should be grateful for the little things and more so, being grateful for the people in our lives and how they all affect our lives. There is a reason we are in each other’s lives.”
With COVID-19 constraints, the cast and crew adhered to maintaining social distance while rehearsing which actually worked well for a radio based script. Each of the seven actors were positioned at their own station and the two sound effect gurus working the Foley table were also staged away from the rest of the cast.
Jeramie Glass (George Bailey/young George)
Continued Oxborrow, “It isn’t often you get to see how a radio show is made and I hope this gives our viewers a glance into a radio show from the 1940’s.” Five of the seven cast members are playing multiple characters, but they all come into the radio studio with a base character (think actors playing actors who play actors) that viewers will get to know based on their nonverbal communication and how they set up their area.
The cast includes Nathan Irwin, Jeremy Glass, Greg Blume, Chris Peterlin, Megan Johnston, Celeste Matheson and Grace Blume. Sound effects Foley table gurus include Theresa Black and Kristin Whitaker.
“I hope the audience walks away knowing that they matter to Corn Stock Theatre and that they matter to the people who are in their lives,” reflected Oxborrow. Tickets are $18.95 ($15 plus a $3.95 service fee) and are available at https://bit.ly/cstwonderfullife
