Washington Stage Guild Revives its Production of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY

The Washington Stage Guild starts its "Pearl Anniversary" season with a remount of one of America's favorite holiday stories in It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. It's Christmas Eve, 1946, and we are the studio audience for a local radio station as its cast of voice actors and one very busy sound effects man broadcast the beloved tale of George Bailey and his encounter with Clarence, his guardian angel. This "radio play-within-a-play" re-imagines the familiar movie as it would have been heard in homes all over America in the late 40s, when just such a broadcast took place. Playwright

Joe Landry has adapted It's A Wonderful Life into a faithful homage to both the original story and the golden age of radio itself. First mounted by Stage Guild in 2015, a 2016 Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Sound Design for a HAYES Production went to Frank DiSalvo Jr. for Sound Design and Steven Carpenter for Live Sound Design.

"Holidays inspire all kinds of tradition, and by bringing back one of our most successful shows ever, we're offering DC a new tradition to embrace. Washington audiences know the Stage Guild as a home for verbal, witty scripts that challenge the vocal talents of its performers, and they also know the Stage Guild Company includes some of the best talkers in town," says Artistic Director Bill Largess. "Radio plays needed actors who could convey everything needed with their voices, and we have a cast of experts at doing just that. But the conceit of the show is that our audience is in the studio with the cast as the live spectators such shows often had, so there is plenty to watch as well as characters are switched and actors play scenes with themselves. Plus, the presence of an array of sound equipment being used to set scenes makes this a bit of a backstage peek as well! Director Laura Giannarelli has assembled a truly wonderful cast of six, who play all the characters remembered from the movie"

Returning from last season are faces familiar to Stage Guild audience. Steven Carpenter will actually be the sound engineer, in full view of the audience. He has 20 years of experience in the DC area including 1776, A Christmas Carol, and The Road From Appomattox at Ford's Theatre; Amadeus at Round House Theatre; Hamlet in Hamlet at the Folger; The Goat, Lonesome West and Translations at Rep Stage; Blithe Spirit at 1st Stage; The Actor's Nightmare at Bay Theatre; and numerous productions at Washington Stage Guild, such as Pygmalion (as Henry Higgins), The Philanderer (Helen Hayes nomination), The Countess, and Anna Karenina. Regional credits include Cecil in Equivocation at Virginia Rep, Leontes inThe Winter's Tale at Baltimore and Virginia Shakespeare Festivals; The Underpants at Wayside Theatre; and A Man For All Seasons at Mill Mountain. He has directed at Rep Stage, Bay Theatre, Theater J, Washington Stage Guild and Theatre Alliance (Helen Hayes nomination for Thief River).

Company member Vincent Clark portrays Freddie Filmore, the voice of Mr. Potter and many others. He is a regular at the Washington Stage Guild, having performed in 14 plays by G.B. Shaw. Other turns at Stage Guild include: Simon Bent's Elling, G.K. Chesterton's Magic, William Largess' stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, Aristocrats and Making History, both by Brian Friel, The Family Reunion and The Confidential Clerk, both by T.S. Eliot, P.G. Wodehouse's adaptation of Ferenc Molnar's The Play's the Thing, Steve Martin's The Underpants and others. He has also performed in productions at Olney Theatre including: The Underpants, Michael Frayn's Democracy, Mawby Green's and Ed Feilbert's translation of George Feydeau's 13 Rue de L'Amour and Shaw's St. Joan. He has also performed on local and national television. Mr. Clark will next appear in the final installment of Stage Guild's Back to Methuselah trilogy, As Far as Thought Can Reach.

Julie-Ann Elliott returns as Lana Sherwood, the "voice" behind every woman in town, save one! She performed previously at Stage Guild as Lydia in In Praise of Love and Anna in Old Times. Recently, she portrayed a variety of roles in the U.S. premiere of Chimerica at Studio Theatre. An Artistic Associate at Olney Theatre, she has performed in over two dozen shows at there, including: The Tempest, Angel Street, Dinner with Friends, The Millionairess, The Constant Wife, Hedda Gabler, Tartuffe and with Potomac Theatre Project: Crave, Arcadia, and Stanley. Elsewhere in the DC/Baltimore region she has worked at Center Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theater J, Round House, Studio Theatre, Folger Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Metro Stage, The Kennedy Center, and Arena Stage. Her TV and film credits include Veep and Jamesy Boy. She narrates audiobooks at Potomac Talking Book Services for the Library of Congress.

Joe Brack returns as Jake Laurents, also known as "George Bailey" and Jennifer Donovan portrays Sally Applewhite - the voice of George's Mary. Joe Brack has worked at Totem Pole Playhouse, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Theater J, The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Forum Theatre and Constellation Theatre.

Jennifer Donovan's credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Players); Blue Straggler (Source Festival); Doubt (1st Stage Theatre); Lobster Alice (Flying V Theatre); Mouse on the Move(Imagination Stage); The Tempest (Annapolis Shakespeare Company); Comedy of Errors (Lean and Hungry Theatre); In the Forest, She Grew Fangs (Washington Rogues); The Birds (Quotidian Theatre); A Maze (Rorschach Theatre); Witness for the Prosecution(Olney Theatre Center); The Graduate (Keegan Theatre).

And stepping in fresh as Harry "Jazzbo" Heywood is Nick Depinto, known to Stage Guild audiences for his roles in Magic and Wives & Wits. He has also performed at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ford's Theatre, Constellation Theatre, The Welders, Olney Theatre Center & many more.

Carl F. Gudenius returns to design the setting and Debbie Kennedy costumes, Marianne Meadowslights and Frank DiSalvo, Jr. sound and Steven Carpenter live sound. Arthur Nordlie is the stage manager.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY

adapted by Joe Landry

Directed by Laura Giannarelli
November 25 through December 18, 2016
Press Night: Saturday, November 26, 2016 at 8 pm

One of the most beloved films ever to come from Hollywood was also broadcast in the 40s as a radio program. In this delightfully theatrical re-creation of that event, a small group of voice actors team up in a studio with the ever-inventive sound effects man to tell the heartwarming story for a nationwide audience- complete with period ads!

Performance times and prices for all productions

Thursday evenings at 7:30 pm - $50.00

Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm - $60.00

Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 pm - $50.00

Discounts are available for senior citizens, students, and groups.

Season passes are available, offering incredible savings for the entire Stage Guild season.

During the season, we will again present readings that complement the full productions. This year, to celebrate the 30th anniversary, we are adding readings of works produced in our early years in our many homes, including as many of the original Stage Guild casts as possible!

A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES

by Dylan Thomas

Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 7 pm

Presented in 1992, our seventh season, a charming portrait of a village Christmas by the Welsh poet.

Location for all performances
The Undercroft Theatre of Mount Vernon Place
United Methodist Church
900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

The Undercroft Theatre is located in the heart of downtown Washington, on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 9th Street, NW and within easy walking distance from the following Metro stations:

Gallery Place/Chinatown-Exit SE corner of 9th and G Sts., NW (Green, Yellow and Red lines)
Mt. Vernon Square/7th Street-Exit SW corner of 7th and M Sts, NW (Green and Yellow lines)
Metro Center-Exit SE corner of 11th and G Sts., NW (Blue, Red and Orange lines)

To post a comment, you must register and login.