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Timpanogos Valley Theatre opens holiday production with spin on "It's a Wonderful Life"

"It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play" | Timpanogos Valley Theatre
Timpanogos Valley Theatre
"It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play" | Timpanogos Valley Theatre

The Timpanogos Valley Theatre in Heber City is opening its holiday production this week with what's being called “a live radio play.”

This year’s production is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It recalls the famous film starring Jimmy Stewart but this one is staged inside a radio station, so audience members became part of the live radio production.

FULL INTERVIEW: Directer Thomas Hughes on Timpanogos Valley Theatre lineup

It’s directed by Tom Hughes who was a professional actor and writer in New York and Boston before moving to the Heber Valley.
“This is a stage production based exactly on the movie,” he said. “This is a much shorter version so it's much easier for families with children to sit through and get that. We've added a lot of music as well. Because it's a radio show production, we've taken some liberties to do some, you know, station breaks and come out for some, we've really tried to recreate the '40s radio experience. So interspersed throughout the story, we have some songs and other numbers, we've got some radio jingles that we've composed for actual local businesses in Heber City.”

The cast is nine actors and additionally what’s called a Foley artist.

“The Foley person was the person who did all those sound effects on the live radio shows,” Hughes said. “So, we've got a radio Foley person is onstage as well the whole time, as well as a live three-piece trio. So, it's a big cast on the stage, working off of three mics.”

The crew is entirely volunteer; some have been in dozens of productions and another who’s in her first performance.

Tickets are general admission with no assigned seating and range from $8 for children and $10 for adults.

It runs from Dec. 9 to Dec. 22. Two matinees are scheduled for 2 p.m. with the rest of the shows starting at 7 p.m.

Click here for tickets and more information.