Starting Off Our Season By Reminding Each Other Why "It's A Wonderful Life" by Ilana Jael
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Is it too early to start off this blog post by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas? Some might say so, but holiday cheer is going to be at the forefront of New City Players’ first production of this season, which will be of playwright Joe Landry’s theatrical adaptation of classic Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life. So, though the rest of us may still be waiting for Thanksgiving, the cast and crew of this seasonal season opener are already hard at work getting ready to begin their rehearsal process, which means that any interested South Florida theatre-goers can plan to get into the holiday spirit by experiencing this timeless story in a more alive, intimate, and innovative way than they’ve ever experienced it before: as a live radio play!
Instead of being set in the physical world of the story, the play is “set” in an imaginary winter wonderland of a 1946 radio station we’ll call WNCP, harkening back to lost traditions and a simpler time gone by. And only five actors, who are themselves playing a set of old time Hollywood stars who “play” the movie’s classic figures, are tasked with using their voices to bring the many Bedford Falls residents you’ll encounter over the course of the script to life. Which sounds like it’ll make things a good deal harder for them, but a good deal more entertaining for us audience members!
The cast will also be doing double duty as the show’s Foley artists, meaning they’ll be responsible for physically creating the show’s sound effects live onstage, using objects ranging from cornflakes to pea whistles. Actor Marcos Fuentes is set to play Jake Laurents, who in turn plays the central role of George Bailey, and Marlo Rodriguez will play Sally Applewhite, who plays his wife Mary. And it’s up to Carlos Alayeto as Freddie Filmore, Caroline Dopson as Lana Sherwood, and Noah Levine as Harry Heywood to animate everyone else!
As far as the production team, we’ll be welcoming NCP founder and producing artistic director Timothy Mark Davis back into the director’s chair, with associate artistic director Elizabeth Price serving as assistant director and production manager. Brittany Blouin will be stage manager, Amanda Gomes will serve as assistant stage manager, and Tyler Grimes is our sound designer. The rest of the team is made up of a handful more of our lovely company members: Denzel McCausland joins as another assistant director and assistant lighting designer, Meg DeGraaf as house manager, Desirae Merritt as lighting designer, and Casey Sacco and Arlette del Toro as Co-scenic and costume designers.
And I (Ilana Jael), seem to have fallen back into the role of dramaturg on this project, a task that has already become a good deal more exciting than one might expect.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
This is because, though It’s A Wonderful Life is most widely remembered for its sentimental conclusion, it’s also a good deal darker and more nuanced than a lot of people remember, or realize on a first watch. After all, until the eleventh hour, it’s a story that shows us in slow, painstaking detail how an upstanding, ordinary man is driven to despair by an absurd series of obstacles that prompt him to sacrifice his every chance at personal fulfillment. Doesn’t exactly sound like fodder for an uplifting night at the theatre, does it?
And yet it is, to the extent that our little radio play’s source material was elected the “most inspirational movie of all time” in an American Film Institute poll. Clearly, its It’s A Wonderful Life’s stunning final segment that eclipses in memory all the sorrow that comes before—the moment in which George Bailey is shown all the ways his many sacrifices have enriched the lives of others, and how many of the riches of his own life he’d foolishly turned a blind eye to.
But even though the film may have a fairly straightforward takeaway, the fact that many who’ve made watching it a tradition find it resonating anew each year seems to attest to the fact that that lesson is all too easy to forget. Thus, retelling the story in theatrical form is more than a mere exercise in nostalgia; it’s also a chance for us to remind ourselves and one another that, though it may sometimes be hard for us to see it, choosing kindness over self-interest and charity over avarice is something that will never be for naught.
Thematically, there’s also a lot of deeper lessons that one could find to contemplate in this seemingly simple tale: about what it means to strive for and to fall short of the American dream when the system has always been stacked against us, or about how to make peace with the way destiny can land us in lives we never would have chosen for ourselves but where we perhaps always belonged. But, maybe above anything else, It’s A Wonderful Life demonstrates not only the profound difference that one man can make to his community, but the literally life-saving nature of what they can offer him in return.
Thus, it seems quite fitting that the first step in our road towards production will be our free community Forum coming up on November 16, which will be focused on the unique mental health challenges that can spring up even amidst the supposedly-joyous winter holidays. Per usual, the event will include a panel discussion that will give experts on the issues that NCP’s work will explore artistically a chance to provide their insight. This time, you can expect to hear from Keegan Mills, a local yogi and life coach; Shay Palmer, owner of Oakland Park’s Mission Yoga; and doctor and therapist Andre Caruso. Local actress Vianca Collazo will be our community storyteller for the evening, and, for our community spotlight, Latrice Richards will represent the Broward County chapter of the United Way and offer us some important information about mental health, suicide prevention, and 211.
In my next blog post, I’m also planning to explore how It’s A Wonderful Life’s fairly realistic portrayal of a suicidal crisis might serve to illustrate some key points to keep in mind when it comes to recognizing, addressing, and talking about this sensitive mental state. So, feel free to check back here or on New City Players’ social media if you might be interested in receiving that information, in getting to know our cast and crew, or in staying tuned for whatever other obscure IAWL trivia I manage to dredge up. In the meantime, I hope to see you all at Forum!
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
by Joe Landry
Directed by Timothy Mark Davis
This beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. With the help of an ensemble that brings a few dozen characters to the stage and create live sound effects throughout, the story of idealistic George Bailey unfolds as he considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve.
WHEN
December 1-18, 2022
WHERE
Island City Stage
TICKET PRICE
$20-35