“It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” Presented by Western Oregon University

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Experience the behind-the-scene escapades of a 1946 radio broadcast by attending the Western Oregon University Theatre Department’s presentation of “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” on Nov. 14-16 and Nov. 20-23.

WOU Theatre Professor and Director Kent Neely said the live radio play is a great start to the holiday season for anyone who likes the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” directed by Frank Capra, play adapted by Joe Landry. “This is a play that families will enjoy,” Neely said. “Children will get a kick out of watching and hearing the sound effects, parents will identify with the challenges of having a family, and older folks will remember what America was beginning to be like after World War II. And everyone will love the story.”

WOU’s stage version of “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” captures the charm of the WBFR studio in New York City on Christmas Eve in 1946. Relying on 10 students’ voices cast for a town’s worth of characters and “Foley” artists providing the sound effects, Neely said the play requires students to perform a different style of acting. The cast vocalizes a range of characters from crying babies and an old, cold-hearted businessman to an Italian restaurant owner and Irish police officer, and of course, the characters central to the story – Clarence, the angel seeking to earn his wings, and George and Mary Bailey. “The actors have little physical interaction because they are depicting a performance for radio...so they speak to microphones,” Neely shared. “The emphasis is on what the audience hears. The actors have really risen to the occasion with different voices and accents.”

Neely chose the play because he has always liked the holiday story. When he saw the film was adapted to a stage play, he thought it would be a good challenge for his students. He also treasures the story’s message. He invites people to start their holiday season by seeing “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.” “It’s a feel-good story about people that love one another and about a dreamer who finds out that some of the simplest accomplishments make a wonderful life,” he said.