(LENOX, Mass.) – A radio play version of the classic Christmas film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” is being staged at Shakespeare & Company through Sunday, December 29, 2013. Inspired by Frank Capra’s 1946 film starring Donna Reed and James Stewart, the funny and unique play-within-a-play features five actors playing not only the show’s radio actors, but all 50 roles from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The show includes radio jingles, live sound effects, and favorite Christmas songs, and is appropriate for all ages.

In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey, the owner of a building and loan association in the small town of Bedford Falls, New York, loses an $8,000 bank deposit, which threatens to ruin his business, as well as his personal and family life. Just as George falls deeper into despair, believing himself to be a complete failure, an “angel” named Clarence appears. Clarence shows George what the world would have been like if he had never been born.