IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: a radio play
based on Frank Capra's classic film
American Theatre Company, Chicago
Jason Gerace - director
Set by Yours Truly
Costumes by Christine Pascual
Lighting by Mac Vaughey
THE STORY
It's somewhere in the 1940s, and a radio company is about to do it's annual Christmastime tradition, mounting a radio play of the story IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, with the regular audience stepping "back in time" as the live radio audience. There are 7 actors who voice all the roles by stepping up to microphones and using the scripts in hand to tell the story. There's also an onstage pianist, and a foley artist creating all the sound effects, just like they would have done back in the 40s.
The story of WONDERFUL LIFE is a classic... George Bailey, facing personal/business disaster makes a wish that he'd never been born, and his guardian angel shows him what life would have been like for everyone in his hometown of Bedford Falls if he'd never existed. He learns how much and how many people's lives he's touched, and in so doing, learns about the value of a life well led, and how "a man who has friends is truly rich".
This is the 7th year for this remount. It's now on it's the third director (Marty Higgenbotham and Damon Kiely took the first four years), it's the fourth (or perhaps 5th) costume designer, and the third lighting designer. The casts have changed throughout the years, but the set has stayed, aesthetically, the same. This particular physical set is now 4 years old, and is starting to show a bit of wear, however the basic idea and concept of the set has remained the same throughout.
Even though it's the 7th year of my involvement, it's the 10th year that ATC has mounted it. The first three years they did it for just a couple nights on a bare stage, but back in '03 the then-artistic-director of the company decided to make it part of the regular season and run it for a few weeks, and it was WILDLY popular then, and ever since.
The conceit is simple, the costumes are pretty but not difficult to find, the story is familiar, but not, (perhaps) as cloying as yet another production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Frankly, the hardest thing about the show is the sound effects, and there are a LOT of them. and trying to keep the look properly 1940s can involve a lot of odd things for the foley artist*.
*a foley artist is a guy (or nowadays even a gal) who creates the sound effects near a microphone to augment the level of the sound. They were vital in the golden age of radio, and are still prevalent today, but mainly in the film industry... watch the credits at the end of the next film you see, and you'll come across a listing for a foley artist and his/her staff. They have to be quick, efficient, and very creative in coming up with ways to create effects using sometimes strange materials... i.e. the sound of footsteps in snow can been created quite efficiently by lightly crunching popcorn down into a shallow dish, or footsteps in autumn leaves by crunching cornflakes the same way). Tom Keith (Garrison Keillor's foley master for Prairie Home Companion) recently died.
Anyhow, getting back to LIFE...
The idea of the set is pulled from research of radio studios in the 40s, but is made a little warmer and homier by using rich, warm wood tones, and holiday decorations... as if they've spruced up the studio for Christmas. The furniture is stuff you saw in a period interior... conceptually we were trying to meld the visual notions of "radio studio" and "grandma's sitting room". On the right side of the pictures you can see the raised platform with a guy sitting at a table and he's surrounded by doo-hickeys and things.. yep... he's the foley artist.
Overall, it's been interesting to see how each director has altered the approach to the story and the experience, and how each has interacted and have asked for slight changes to the set, even though the basic concept has remained the same. Marty had us create a 40s living room installation (with a full-sized period radio) in the lobby, and they sold special "living room seats" to a group of folk who wouldn't be in the theatre, but would sit in the lobby and hear the performance broadcast to the radio in the lobby... while being served milk and homemade cookies. Damon really invested in the personal journey of Mary and George as being a struggle, Jason (the current director) is playing up the comedy in different and surprisingly touching ways. All three were (and are) excellent, but the tonality and the small touches make each director's viewpoint shift, and each is unique. To me, it's far more exciting than watching the movie.
Am attaching a couple more PIRATES pic here...It's a REALLY challenging space to photograph, but I wanted to share a couple views.
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