By Alison James
Associate Editor
“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” This iconic quote is from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and community members will have a chance to see this story live on stage as performed by the Auburn Area Community Theatre.
“I hope they’ll be familiar enough with the story to want to come see it, but I hope they’ll appreciate that this is not exactly like the movie,” said Andrea Holliday, Opelika resident and co-director of the performance. The production, Holliday said, is designed for a smaller cast of actors who play more than one part. “You’ll see people exit the stage and put on a hat and coat and come back and be somebody else,” Holliday said.
Co-director Ashley Hansana said the truth of the story – in which a discontent George Bailey sees what the world would have been like without him – will resonate with attendees.
“There’s a lot of truth to it,” Hansana said. “Life happens, and I think that holds true for everybody. Growing up, you have these big dreams, and they don’t always work out, but there’s still wonderful things about life no matter what you end up doing. I think it’s a personal story … I think it should resonate with almost anybody.”
Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Performance dates are Nov. 14, 15, and 20-22 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 16 and 23 at 2 p.m. at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center, 222 E. Drake Ave., Auburn.
The cast is less than two dozen – most of whom are newcomers to the AACT. Holliday and Hansana said they are always looking for more people to join the nonprofit AACT – as actors in future productions, but also as ushers, ticket salespeople, set-builders, costume and prop designers, lighting technicians, and so forth.
“We want people to do anything that they’re interested in. We are completely volunteer,” Hansana said. The AACT is particularly in need of volunteers Nov. 8-9 to help build the set for “It’s a Wonderful Life,” beginning at 9 a.m. at the JDCAC.
For more information on the AACT or on this performance, and to purchase tickets, visit www.auburnact.org. Ticket pre-orders are encouraged.
Holliday said the show’s message is one that will impact people of all ages.
“We can all be very hard on ourselves and question our value,” said Holliday, “but if we really stopped and took a look, then I think we’d find there’s a lot more positive going on than negative, and there’s a lot more love.”