There are a lot of classic Christmas movies and shows that have been adapted into plays over the years, like A Christmas Carol and Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. The Auburn Area Community Theater has chosen to do the play It's a Wonderful Life, adapted from the 1946 movie.
Unlike other Christmas movies however, It's a Wonderful Life has a darker part of the storyline when the main character, George Bailey, contemplates committing suicide by jumping off of a bridge.
"He's an ordinary man from a small town in New York and he's had big dreams from a young age where he wants to get out of town and see the world and do great things, but just events in his life keep him in town and eventually he feels like he has failed by not achieving his dreams," said Ashley Hansana, assistant director of the play. "He gets pretty depressed and decides that he wishes he had never been born."
At just the right time, an angel is sent down to show Bailey what the world would be like if he weren't there, if he had never been born, to show him how important he actually is, Hansana said.
The cast for the play is 21 people, six of which are children.
"We haven't actually talked to the children too much about that topic," Hansana said. "The children did not rehearse with us on the darker scenes."
Hansana said they portray the scene when George is contemplating taking his life by having him standing on the bridge looking over the edge as if he were about to jump, but he doesn't because the angel arrives.
Too offset the darker part of the play, the cast has added some humor of their own.
"We've found little spots that might not have been written in the script that we are trying to kind of make it more lighthearted to balance that all out," said Keith McDow, an actor playing four different characters in the play. "There are some pretty intense serious moments, you try to kind of throw some humor in there when you can and lighten in up."
Teressa Morbidelli, superintendent angel in the show, said that the moment with Bailey on the bridge is portrayed as more of an "I wish I'd never been born," moment instead of him having thoughts of suicide.
"It's a very good spring board for them to work of off for you know, life will get hard but that you never give up on it," Morbidelli said about the children learning about that moment in the play.
Morbidelli's character shows the other angel all about Bailey's life, with flashbacks of his past.
"An individuals life may not seem very significant to them, but you don't always realize the impact you might have on those around you," McDow said about the underlying message of the play.
McDow said that he thinks the story itself became a Christmas classic because it is set in that time period, but that the message it has could be just as powerful any time of the year.
Hansana said that the play is a family story and suitable for children.
The cast has already performed the play a few times, and they will have a show at 7 p.m. November 20-22, and November 23rd at 2:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.
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