IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE Family Matinees Set at Center Stage

This holiday season, Center Stage will offer four family matinees during the run of It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play-from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29; Sunday, Dec. 7; Saturday, Dec. 13; and Saturday, Dec. 20.

During all the family matinees, patrons will be able to purchase half-price children's tickets and participate in free pre-show activities, featuring a hot cocoa bar, interactive lobby displays, holiday family photos, backstage tours and craft-making. The family matinees are sponsored by Baltimore STYLE.

The Dec. 13 family matinee will include a visit from the German Christmas Village's Gingy the Gingerbread Man, a professional photographer taking complimentary holiday photos, complimentary cookies from La Cakerie and a Q&A with the stars of It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.

Throughout the run of It's a Wonderful Life, Center Stage will also host a winter coat drive, with donations benefiting Love in Action Outreach Ministries in Baltimore.

It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, running Nov. 18 to Dec. 21, combines Frank Capra's beloved holiday film with the golden age of radio. Set in a 1940s radio studio (and through story-telling, Bedford Falls), the production features a live sound effects artist and five actors who play every character in the film. Audience members are swept up in the post-World War II era, experiencing the magic of It's a Wonderful Life just as a real 1947 studio audience did when Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed performed the script live over the air shortly after its Academy Awards nominations were announced.

The holiday show is the third mainstage production in Center Stage's 2014/15 Season, following runs of epic play Amadeus and rock musical Next to Normal.

Previews for It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play begin Nov. 18, and opening night is Nov. 25. For more information, visit centerstage.org or call 410.332.0033.