Mississippi College to present It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
By Chloe Newton
For over a hundred years, the traditional performance for the average American family to enjoy at Christmas time was The Nutcracker ballet. But Clintonians are encouraged to spice things up a bit this holiday season with Mississippi College’s rendition of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry, produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc.
This year’s performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, November 19, and Saturday, November 20, and on Sunday, November 21, at 2:30 p.m. The show will run for approximately one hour and thirty minutes.
MC invites viewers of all ages to the Jean Pittman Williams Recital Hall in the Aven Fine Arts building to enjoy the classic Christmas narrative based on the short story The Greatest Gift, by Philip Van Doren Stern. The recital hall will hold its full capacity of guests, and masks will not be required. General admission is $10, MC students and employees are $7, senior adults are $7, and groups of twenty or more are $4 per person. Tickets may be purchased using cash or check only.
It’s a Wonderful Life follows the life of George Bailey, who lives in Bedford Falls, New York. While Bailey always longs to leave his hometown and accomplish wonderful things, circumstances force him to stay put and to help run his family’s small business. Bailey has to learn what truly matters in life, and God sends a wingless angel to assist Bailey in finding his way. Organizers hope the timeless story will bring a bundle of holiday cheer to the town of Clinton.
Mississippi College students have worked hard to embody their characters, despite the challenges of it being a radio play. In addition to the cast being solely students, students are also involved in the directing aspects of the production. Assistant directors Tori Hendren, Gracie Lee, and Jenna Trotter have put in a great amount of effort to make the production successful and enjoyable.
Dr. Phyllis Seawright, the director of the production, said, “The first challenge of doing a radio play is to get the voice and the words right. Then you begin to work on the interactions between the characters in a scene, but without moving. So that’s a real challenge for actors who are used to doing stage movement. Then, you start adding little bits of movement, just so the actors can build the momentum of a scene… Radio plays are often called ‘Theater of the Airways’ for good reason!”
The production relies just as much on the audience as it does the actors, especially with a radio play, where audiences are left to their own imagination of what the setting would look like.
Emma Ellard, a freshman portraying the leading lady Mary Hatch, said, “It was definitely something I came into with a lot of skepticism, to be quite honest. Now that we’re kind of getting a feel for how it is going to look and sound… I have a feeling it’s going to end up looking and feeling really really cool.”
It’s a Wonderful Life is more than just a Christmas story; it teaches the viewers practical life lessons. Those who come and watch will be reminded that life does not revolve around the monetary things, but around the people. The show possesses many different meanings for many people.
“As we work through the show, we are finding out that the message is not just for Christmas,” said Seawright. “It’s even more relevant for us right now, as we continue to fight this pandemic and the ongoing troubles our country struggles with every day. Every life is a gift from God, and we must tell each other that fact every day.”
