By Allison Beasley
Acting Out Theatre Company is about to put on its fourth year of It’s A Wonderful Life. I performed in the show the first two years, and this is my second year of assistant directing under the expertise of Director Sharon Richardson, set Designer Julie Gindy and Costumer Jean Roth. By our fourth year of this show, we have worked out the script edits, the blocking, the musical cues, the set and the costumes (though those things change slightly each year as new cast members add their own flair). We find ourselves in fine-tuning mode , and each year I like to think it gets better like a mulled wine that Clarence the Angel would attempt to order at a bar.
Perhaps it’s because the heavy lifting of the show has been done, or perhaps because I’m getting older like all of us are, I find myself delving deeper into Frank Capra’s timeless holiday tale – one of redemption and faith. I think of the characters and their back stories – characters like Martini, the bar owner. George declares Martini’s as the best bar in Bedford Falls. In the alternate world where George has never been born, Martini doesn’t own a bar – Martini isn’t even mentioned in the alternate George Bailey-less world. Sharon leaned over once during rehearsal of this scene and whispered, “what do you think happened to Martini in a world where George was never born?” I think it’s safe to say that if George Bailey hadn’t been there to take a chance on an immigrant like Martini, giving him a home loan for his very own house in Bailey Park, and perhaps a business loan to start Martini’s Bar, perhaps no one else would have.
I think of Rose Bailey, George’s loving mother, and what kind of a life that poor woman would have had if her only child, Harry, would have died at the age of seven falling through the ice if George wasn’t there to save him. And then to have her husband die years later or a stroke and her brother-in-law committed to an asylum for mental health struggles, as Clarence later explains to George.
None of us will ever know what life would be like had we never been born. There are so many seemingly innocuous things that we do each day that may change the course of life for others. The older I get, the more I try to live a purposeful life, as George Bailey did – I try to be helpful, kind and value relationships with people. George Bailey may have been just an imaginary character that Capra dreamt up, but I like to think he lives in all of us.
We really do have a wonderful life to live!
Come see our show December 14, 15 & 16! Get tickets HERE.
