It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
Upcoming production by New City Players in Ft. Lauderdale
By: Aaron Krause - Dec 10, 2025
Heartwarming and wholesome holiday entertainment from award-winning Fort Lauderdale–area theater troupe New City Players (NCP) returns this year—but in a new venue.
This month, NCP will revive its 2022 professional production of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry. If you attended that staging, you may recall that Landry’s adaptation transforms the iconic 1946 film into a theatrical experience in which five versatile actors voice nearly three dozen characters while foley artist Tyler Johnson Grimes creates a cascade of live sound effects.
The revival will run for five performances, Dec. 18–21, at General Provision Downtown, 300 S.W. 1st Ave., Suite 155, Fort Lauderdale. Showtimes are 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. NCP encourages audiences to arrive early for cocoa, carols, and a curated menu from The Palm Café at General Provision. Doors open one hour before each performance. Tickets cost $30 and are available at www.newcityplayers.org. You may direct questions to boxoffice@newcityplayers.org or (954) 376-6114. The production runs 90 minutes without intermission.
NCP Producing Artistic Director Timothy Mark Davis noted that while the company is reviving the earlier production, audiences will encounter a new cast, a new venue, and “a new aesthetic.”
“Audiences can expect the same story they’ve come to know and love, a mix of familiar and new foley sound effects, and an evening that will get them in the Christmas spirit like no other,” Davis said. “We are definitely aiming for a more contemporary feeling when it comes to the production design. The phrase we’ve been using as our guidepost is a ‘rustic-industrial Christmas’ to match the aesthetic of General Provision.”
Typically, NCP stages its productions in Island City Stage’s intimate black box theater in Wilton Manors. But Davis said the company chose General Provision Downtown because of a developing relationship with the venue’s owner, who is gifting the space in-kind. “Additionally, it allows us to tap into a different audience that is closer to downtown,” he said.
General Provision is a coworking space and private club for entrepreneurs, creatives, and digital nomads—a setting designed to “foster community and innovation.”
That mission aligns with NCP’s purpose. The professional, nonprofit, ensemble-based company, “aims to be a local gathering place for empathy and connection,” according to its website.
“This belief in the value of community isn’t something New City Players hauls out once a year with the holiday decorations—it’s the troupe’s very foundation,” Davis said.
That theme also lies at the heart of It’s a Wonderful Life.
“At its heart, the story remains the same: a man who has felt like he has lost everything realizes that what is most important in his life all along has been his community,” Davis said. “It’s a Wonderful Life portrays the near-death struggle of one man whose salvation comes from his community. I hope audiences feel that in their hearts.”
He added that the story’s message still resonates in an era when people often retreat into “algorithmic echo chambers.”
“The tech overlords are profiting off our attention while simultaneously making us think we hate each other,” Davis said. “But there are essential aspects to our humanity that don’t change: we need community. We need social connection. And we need to constantly be reminded that people matter more than profits.”
Landry’s adaptation retains the story’s 1945 Bedford Falls setting. George Bailey has repeatedly set aside his desire to see the world in order to serve his community. Yet on this Christmas Eve, his own crisis deepens. As a hopeless Bailey prepares to end his life, an “Angel Second Class” named Clarence intervenes—hoping to earn his wings by showing Bailey what the world would look like had he never been born. The vision is bleak; without Bailey’s good deeds, Bedford Falls has suffered. Only after begging Clarence to restore his existence does Bailey grasp how profoundly he has shaped the lives around him—and how much he depends on them as well.
“Strange, isn’t it?” Clarence muses. “Each man’s life touches so many other lives. And when he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
Davis said NCP chose to revive It’s a Wonderful Life because the piece “captures the essence of the kind of community NCP is trying to build. We also wanted to add more programming this year, and radio plays lend themselves to non-traditional environments.”
Compared with traditional staging, directing a radio-style play presents different challenges.
“For one thing, the blocking is a lot easier,” Davis said. “It’s really about three things: pushing the actors to explore as much vocal variety as they can muster, ensuring that the pacing is perfect so that the foley can shine and the story keeps moving, and helping the actors find the truth of every moment.”
The production reunites NCP holiday radio play regulars: Davis in the director’s chair; “voice actor extraordinaire” Carlos Alayeto, reprising his 2022 role; and foley designer Tyler Johnson Grimes, who will step onstage to perform the live sound effects. The cast also includes NCP ensemble members Denzel McCausland, Alex Joyel, and Casey Sacco, along with newcomer Holly Gattey.
It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play “promises to remind audiences why every life matters, and how each person touches so many others,” Davis said.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: New City Players’ revival of its 2022 production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
WHEN: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Dec. 18–21. Doors open an hour before each performance. Arrive early for cocoa, carols, and a curated menu from The Palm Café at General Provision.
WHERE: General Provision Downtown, 300 S.W. 1st Ave., Suite 155, Fort Lauderdale
TICKETS: $30; available at www.newcityplayers.org or (954) 376-6114