The Legacy Actors Theater Experience, in partnership with the Petal Arts Council, will soon bring a beloved Christmas classic to audiences with the experience’s upcoming performance of “It’s a Wonderful Life – A Live Radio Play,” an adaptation of the story of down-on-his-luck George Bailey during the holiday season.
The event – which will feature Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker in the main role as George Bailey – will be performed at 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. December 15 at Parkway Heights United Methodist Church, 2420 Hardy Street in Hattiesburg. While most people are more familiar with the 1946 film starring Jimmy Stewart as Bailey, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was a radio show prior to that.
The play, which is directed by Sherri Marengo and adapted by Joe Landry, will focus on that aspect by taking place in a radio station.
“’It’s a Wonderful Life’ is super classic, and the radio show is how it was intended to be to start with – it was a radio show before it was the Frank Capra (directed) film,” Marengo said. “So for us to be able to bring that to the public and have 13 people on stage at one time is quite a benefit.
“And we’re using a lot of (proceeds from ticket sales) to split with the youth at Parkway Heights to help them with their mission trips. This is the first time this has been done anywhere around here, I think, since Just Over the Rainbow Theater did it in 2017.”
The story focuses on the aforementioned George Bailey, who begins to have thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve. This prompts his guardian angel, Clarence, to show up and show George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he didn’t exist.
“It’s a great Christmas classic, even though it’s kind of a sad thing,” Marengo said. “We try to make it as light as possible.”
In addition to Barker as George Bailey, the cast of the event is as follows:
- Rachelle Steinhauer as Mary Bailey;
- John Parker as Mr. Potter and others;
- Eric Weill as Uncle Billy and others ;
- Jim Siders as Harry Bailey and others;
- Dallas Gorbett as Joseph and others;
- David Sellers as Clarence and others;
- Abe Steinhauer as Pete and Tommy;
- Lenora Rose Steinhauer as Janie and Zuzu Bailey;
- David Myers as Freddie Filmore, the announcer; and
- Susan DeFatta Stanley, Megan Mullican, Debra Topp and Bobbie Lou Barber also feature in the play.
Most of the actors are members of the Legacy Actors Theater Experience, a readers’ community for people over the age of 60, who are joined by a few extras.
“This is not a normal stage play; it’s a radio play, which means it takes part in a radio station, and everybody who is reading the parts are actors doing the parts,” Marengo said. “So it’s ‘actors playing actors,’ basically.
“We did the Alfred Hitchcock Radio Play a few years back, where all the actors came in, they have scripts, they’re in front of microphones, they do different voices. We multiple-cast everything, because they are actually reading the entire story of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ as actors in a radio station.”
Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased online at www.legacyactors.ludus.com.
The 10:30 a.m. showing is reserved for senior citizens by reservation, as the event includes a caterer. Attendees to that showing are asked to reserve their tickets by December 14.
The 7:30 p.m. showing is general admission, and tickets can be purchased at the door in addition to the online sales.
More information can be found on the Facebook page “It’s a Wonderful Life – a Live Radio Play” by Legacy Actors Theater Experience.”
