Interview: Kevin Curtis Says IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY at Avon Players is a Warm Story for the Holiday Season

It's a Wonderful Life is not only one of the most well-known Christmas movies of all time, but it's also one of the most well-known and highly regarded movies of all time, period. Running November 26th - December 11th at Avon Players is It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, which is a unique take on the beloved story. Instead of being a straight play, this rendition is staged as a live radio broadcast. This holiday season, bring your loved ones to Rochester to experience this retelling live for yourself.

BroadwayWorld Detroit spoke with director Kevin Curtis about Avon Players' production of It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Read our discussion below!

BroadwayWorld Detroit: Can you give BWW readers a brief background of yourself and your theatre career?

Kevin Curtis: I got quite involved in theatre when I was in college. I always meant to get back into it afterwards, but was diverted by one thing or another. I am fortunate to have a career in advertising, where I can put my creativity into practice - so I did have an outlet. In 2002, I took on an adjunct faculty position at The College for Creative Studies and I got even further off track. But I still longed to be involved in theatre once again. Then, in 2015, I auditioned for a play at Avon Players and never looked back. That show was It's a Wonderful Life (NOT the radio play version). I have been in many shows since then and, earlier this summer, I directed my first full-length play. It was a comedy called 12 Incompetent Jurors at Ridgedale Players in Troy. And now, It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Yes, two shows in a row. I'm really loving the directing gig.

How would you describe It's a Wonderful Life for someone who is unfamiliar with this famous story?

It's basically a re-versioning of Dicken's A Christmas Carol, where a man named George Bailey is able to see what the world would be like had he never been born. A wonderful story of how we really don't think about how much our lives impact the lives of others. The definitive line comes at the end of play when Clarence the angel tells George, "no man is a failure who has friends." Ain't it the truth?

When were you first exposed to It's a Wonderful Life (either the radio play or the movie)? What was your first impression of it?

I watched the movie on TV with my family when I was a kid and it just struck a chord. It remains one of my all-time favorites. And it meant so much that this show was my launching pad back into doing theatre again. I got to play Uncle Billy, who is one of my all-time favorite characters.

It's a Wonderful Life is perhaps one of the most well-known movies from the 20th century. What about the story do you think resonates so much with people, even to this day?

I think people just don't take the time to sit back and realize, at the end of the day, how much people really do care about them. We sometimes get lost in our own quagmire and fail to remember how much we ALL impact the lives of those we love. No man is an island.

What would you say to someone to get them to come see it's a Wonderful Life: The Live Radio Play at Avon Players?

This is a unique version of the story. It's actually a play within a play, where radio actors are doing a broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life from a New York radio studio in 1947. And I think anyone who has ever listened to an old-time radio show will enjoy seeing it actually played out...including sound effects being performed live, just like back in the day.

What will audiences come out of it's a Wonderful Life: The Live Radio Play thinking about?

First and foremost, I hope it's a warm feeling of the holiday season and a desire to be closer to family and friends.

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It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play runs at Avon Players in Rochester from November 26th until December 11th. For more information and tickets to the show, visit avonplayers.org.

Connect with Avon Players on Instagram at @avon.players and on Facebook at facebook.com/AvonPlayersTheatre.

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