WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — We could all use a pick-me-up right now.
For some, Northern Stage’s It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play is just the ticket. It can be streamed now through Jan. 3 via northernstage.org; tickets cost $15 per individual or $25 per household.
Each holiday season, the White River Junction-based nonprofit theater stages musicals with larger casts. Last year was The Sound of Music and the year before that, Matilda. It’s a Wonderful Life, by contrast, is a radio play that is written for five actors. It is the first radio play Northern Stage has produced.
“When we went into lockdown, I immediately applied for the rights for this,” said Carol Dunne, artistic director at Northern Stage and director of the production who is also performing in it. “We otherwise never would have done it.”
Dunne expanded the cast to include nine actors as a way to employ more performers whose work has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. After quarantining, they gathered at the Barrette Center for the Arts to record it.
“We got to have that chemistry together,” Dunne said. “It was really special being together.”
Dunne also made it a point to include a diverse cast, which makes it quite different than the 1946 film starring James Stewart and directed by Frank Capra.
“We did not want to reflect the very white heritage of the story,” she said. “That was really fun to bring different voices and dialects into the piece.”
Since the pandemic started, theater productions have been halted or moved to Zoom or outside. It’s a Wonderful Life is purely audio: there is no visual element. That was done, in part, to give people a break from screens. Dunne envisions people gathering around a fireplace with warm drinks and closing their eyes as they listen to the 1½-hour play.
“Your imagination can really fly with a radio play like this,” she said.
The cast also included Upper Valley references throughout the production. The response from the community has been positive, Dunne said, and there is talk of making the recording available in following holiday seasons, even once people can gather in a theater again.
“It’s deeply meaningful and it’s especially deeply meaningful right now because we all need to remember our blessings,” she said.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
