{"id":30382,"date":"2023-12-01T04:14:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T11:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-theatre-troupe-to-present-its-a-wonderful-life-the-radio-play-friday-and-saturday\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:18:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:18:35","slug":"dolores-theatre-troupe-to-present-its-a-wonderful-life-the-radio-play-friday-and-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-theatre-troupe-to-present-its-a-wonderful-life-the-radio-play-friday-and-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores Theatre Troupe to present \u2018It\u2019s A Wonderful Life: The Radio Play\u2019 Friday and Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The play will take place in the Dolores High School Commons. (Peter Swingle\/Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., the Dolores Theatre Troupe will present \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play\u201d in the Dolores High School commons.<\/p>\n

The play, which is based on the classic film created by Frank Capra, follows the story of George Bailey, who feels like his life has not been worth much.<\/p>\n

Through the play, Bailey sees what the world would be like had he never been born, and realizes the impact he has been able to make on the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets face to face with the outcomes of some of the things that he put in motion when he wasn\u2019t there to put them in motion,\u201d Troupe Director Peter Swingle said. \u201cWe learn that every life matters and every life is wonderful in terms of the impact it can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The troupe puts a twist on the beloved movie by performing as if it were a radio drama set in the 1940s. According to Swingle, the entire play takes place in a radio studio and the actors act as radio actors playing the parts, while engaging the audience who becomes the radio drama\u2019s studio audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s even applause signs and things like that,\u201d Swingle said. \u201cWe have a sound effect area with the old opening and closing doors and bells and all kinds of large honking horns and things that they can use for sound effects on stage to go along with the radio lines of dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auditions for the play began in early September, and rehearsals have been taking place two to three times a week for the past 11 to 12 weeks.<\/p>\n

Swingle said 25 to 30 students \u2013 from sixth through 12th grades \u2013 are involved in the production.<\/p>\n

Millie Pym, who plays the angel Clarence Oddbody, said her favorite part about preparing for the play has been the artwork of learning the role and growing the character.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love making the art. I like it when I start to know my lines better and I can repeat them and try to really see how I think the character would act,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Darwin Cooper, who plays Bailey, said, \u201cI really enjoy the coming together of the group of actors as well as the kind of finding the character in yourself as well as without yourself and kind of building this person.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that his favorite moment in the play is when Mr. Potter, the antagonist, tells Mr. Bailey that he is worth more dead than alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the moment George realizes the only way that he can save his family is by sacrificing himself, and it\u2019s kind of a break in his determination. It\u2019s a very pivotal moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pym said her favorite scene also involves Bailey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s when he has his downfall,\u201d she shared. \u201cEverything has kind of come to an end and the people he loves don\u2019t really remember him. And then he kind of finds his self-worth. I love his moment of realization; I find that very moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Cooper and Pym said they hope the audience is moved by the story and is able to take away the valuable lessons sprinkled throughout the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the really important thing that the audience can take away from this, and what I hope they take away from this, is that it\u2019s kind of a butterfly effect. Everybody affects each other. We may seem like we are completely independent individuals, but everybody affects everybody else,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cMany people wish that they were never born, but they don\u2019t understand the ramifications of that. I hope it gives them pause to think, \u2018Well, what if I was never born? However insignificant I think I am, how many people did I affect?\u2019 Even if it\u2019s ever so small, it ripples into something greater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pym echoed Cooper\u2019s statement, saying, \u201cI think it\u2019s very important to realize how important you are in that just your existence means so much. It\u2019s just incredible \u2026 and I hope people realize that you don\u2019t have to do everything alone, and that sometimes it\u2019s OK to rely on people who love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets to the play are $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

follows the life of George Bailey in the classic story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[755,44,103,155,28,60,29,910],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-christmas","tag-dolores","tag-dolores-schools-re-4a","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-theatre"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81061,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30382\/revisions\/81061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30382"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}