Photos: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY At Hedgerow Theatre Company

Hedgerow Theatre Company will celebrate the holiday season with a re-imagined presentation of Frank Capra’s beloved classic, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by award-winning playwright Joe Landry, an adaptation of Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life based on the story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern. Check out photos from the production.

Audiences will enjoy a fresh take on George Bailey’s uplifting journey through this unique, immersive production where the heartwarming story is performed by actors portraying multiple roles and playing music and live sound effects on stage. Directed by Pete Pryor, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play features stage and screen actors Mary Lee Bednarek, Tyler Elliott, Kennedy McAlister, Christopher Patrick Mullen, and Brian Anthony Wilson. The production is set to run from November 27 to December 29, with 25 performances presented in Hedgerow’s 100-seat theatre, housed in an atmospheric 19th-century grist mill.

The story of It’s A Wonderful Life has become a staple of the holiday season: Bedford Falls resident George Bailey is consumed with doubt when his family business is confronted with financial problems. Just when he’s lost all hope, an angel appears before Bailey to show him how the lives of those he loves would change if he were never around. In It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, however, playwright Joe Landry turns the iconic 1946 holiday film into a captivating experience for audiences looking to experience a timeless classic or those discovering George Bailey’s journey for the first time. 

The play follows a crew from a local radio station performing It’s A Wonderful Life on the air in the 1940s. The cast appears as radio performers, with each actor playing several roles, convincingly bringing their characters to life as they perform into microphones while using various props to create inventive sound effects. It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play also features musical interludes, with the cast performing holiday tunes reinterpreted as advertisements and radio bumpers.