Howard McGillin Leads Irish Rep's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, Now thru 12/29

Irish Repertory Theatre will continue its current season with a revival of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, The 1946 Live Radio Play, adapted by Anthony E. Palermo from the screenplay by Francis Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra and Jo Swerling. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, The 1946 Live Radio Play premiered last year at the Irish Repertory Theatre with a production directed by Charlotte Moore (JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, DANCING AT LUGHNASA). Once again directed by Ms. Moore, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, The 1946 Live Radio Play will begin previews today, December 4th and will play through Sunday, December 29th in The Irish Repertory Theatre's W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 West 22nd Street). The official press opening is Tuesday, December 10th.

Set in a radio station in the 1940's, with a busy live sound FX artist and six actors playing 25 characters, this beloved, poignant Christmas classic comes vividly to life . . . Christmas Eve in America, 1946. George Bailey, the nicest guy in town, is in a terrible predicament. Perched precariously on the Bedford Fall Bridge, on the brink of suicide, George encounters Clarence, his Guardian Angel, who has not yet earned his wings. Clarence takes George in hand and shows him what the small town of Bedford Falls would have been if he had never been born.

The cast of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, The 1946 Live Radio Play includes Haley Bond, Rory Duffy, Kristin Griffith, Ian Holcomb, Peter Maloney (West Side Story, To Be Or Not To Be), and Tony nominee Howard McGillin ( . . . Edwin Drood, Anything Goes, Phantom of the Opera).

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, The 1946 Live Radio Play has set design by James Morgan, costume design by David Toser, and lighting design by Michael O'Connor. The production features live sound design by Zachary Williamson. The Production Stage Manager is Michael Palmer.

Director Charlotte Moore's recent staging credits include Irish Rep's current revival of JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, DONNYBROOK!, NEW GIRL IN TOWN, Brian Friel's DANCING AT LUGHNASA and MOLLY SWEENEY, A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES, THE IRISH... AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY, and ERNEST IN LOVE. She has also directed The Irish Repertory Theatre's concert productions of OLIVER, OLIVER!!, CAMELOT and BRIGADOON on Broadway. Ms. Moore was a finalist for the 2011-2012 Joseph A. Callaway Award for excellence in the craft of directing for her work on DANCING AT LUGHNASA.

The Irish Repertory Theatre, co-founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Charlotte Moore and Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly, provides a context for understanding the contemporary Irish-American experience through evocative works of theater, music, and dance. This mission is accomplished by staging the works of Irish and Irish-American classic and contemporary playwrights, encouraging the development of new works focused on the Irish and Irish-American experience, and producing the works of other cultures interpreted through the lens of an Irish sensibility. Ms. Moore and Mr. O'Reilly received a 2013 Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award in recognition of Irish Repertory Theatre's twenty-five years of producing outstanding theatre.

Currently playing at The Irish Repertory Theatre is a revival of Sean O'Casey's JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK directed by Ms. Moore, playing October 9 - December 8 on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage. Also playing, in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre, is A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT, directed by Bob Flanagan, October 16 - December 1.

Off-Broadway performances of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, The 1946 Live Radio Play will play the Irish Repertory Theatre's W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) December 4-29: Wednesdays at 3pm and 8pm; Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; and Sundays at 3pm. Opening Night is Tuesday, December 10th at 7pm. No performances on Christmas Day.

Tickets to IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, The 1946 Live Radio Play are $45. For tickets and information, call the Irish Rep box office at 212-727-2737 or visit www.irishrep.org.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

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