For the first time in school history, Beverly Pruzina and her Theater Arts I and Film students produced a radio play, specifically, the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” A radio play depends on a narrator, sound technician, and the voices of the actors and actresses to tell a story. “Radio Plays are unique, because they allow actors to interact with a Foley Artist who will make the sound effects as the play is happening,” Pruzina states. This differs from a regular production which has a greater emphasis on body language and visual effects as opposed to intonation and sound effects. Radio plays were most common from the 1920s through the 1950s, when most families in America possessed a radio. However, when televisions grew in popularity, radio plays declined. 

Performing a radio play for the first time didn’t come without challenges. While Pruzina did act in several radio plays of her own and worked as a radio broadcaster for several years, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was her first time producing one. Additionally, there were only 12 actors who had to voice dozens of characters, so students had to learn how to change their voice for each character. Junior and actress Bella Towe explained, “Everybody is so amazing at portraying their characters, and it’s just amazing how a few of my castmates can just do so many different accents…It’s really cool to see that happening and to just be a part of the production with them.” The crew also faced a challenge with a lack of male representation. “There is only one young man in our class, ninth grader Jack Vosburgh, so it was a challenge filling all of the male sounding characters,” stated Pruzina, “but our female actors have done a sensational job creating those characters.”

While it’s known best as a movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” originated from a short story called “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern published in 1943. A collaborative class, Pruzina’s students had major input on the choice of play. “It was a whole class effort and I think we read through [‘It’s a Wonderful Life’] and it interested all of us,” Towe stated. The play was also attractive to the class because of its meaningful message that “each person’s life touches so many others and is incredibly valuable. I believe that is the core message of our Grove Theatre group and would go on to say that is a resounding message to students and faculty of Woodgrove High School,” Pruzina explained.