If you have ever turned on a television during the month of December, you’ve probably watched “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The popular film, released in 1946, has been a staple for TV stations since the 1970s, when its copyright was mistakenly allowed to expire.
This year, you don’t have to sit through two hours of the same old film because the Lord Leebrick Theatre is offering a special twist on the holiday classic.
“It’s a Wonderful Life: a Live Radio Play” features local actors as 1940s stars and starlets acting out the story of George Bailey in front of a studio audience.
Director Carol Horne said it’s like watching the magic happen from backstage. “You have that wonderful treat of sound effects done on stage, right in front of your very eyes,” she said. “You can see that the sound of walking in snow is really the sound effects guy’s fist crunching cornflakes.”

Alongside a sound man and a stage manager, the play features five local actors who voice every character from the movie.
Three of the actors play 10 to 15 characters each and there are several scenes where one actor must voice two different characters.
“The biggest challenge has been making sure the voices are distinct enough so that if somebody chooses to close their eyes and listen, they will hear two separate people talking,” Horne said.
Horne suggested that the audience can enjoy the play in several ways: reliving the classic story, watching the movie come alive on stage or just closing their eyes and listening to the radio.
With the actors, Horne said she stressed the importance of emulating, not imitating.
“Our first rehearsal was watching the movie. I had the actors hold their scripts and take notes about the emotional journey of the character they are playing,” she said.
“I instructed them to identify the emotion that the character goes to in that scene and find the way that’s honest for (the actors) to get there.”
She also said she pretty much let the original director of “It’s a Wonderful Life” direct the radio play.
“I’m a strong director but I let Frank Capra direct it because he did it right the first time. I mean, what do we need to improve on?”
The Lord Leebrick Theatre, which opened at 540 Charnelton Street in 1994, lends its cozy space to the ambiance to the play.
“The intimacy here is really sweet,” Horne said.
Horne believes that Lord Leebrick is the best theater company in town. “It’s the challenges they give to their actors and the challenges they give to their audience,” she said. “What more could you ask for than a theater space that challenges who we are and how we treat each other. That’s what I think art is for.”
Horne said that the most rewarding aspect of directing the show has been working with the talented cast and crew.
“And knowing that every other theater is doing ‘A Christmas Carol’ and we’re not,” she said.
She believes that “It’s a Wonderful Life: a Live Radio Play” is a very unusual holiday offering that will appeal to everyone.
“It’s not about Christmas, it’s about finding out that every life has value,” she said.
Horne wants the play to inspire people to do just one kind thing this holiday season.
“I hope that they will make a difference that will make a difference that will make a difference.”