Life in 2020 may not seem wonderful but the Ojai Art Center Theater hopes to help bring holiday cheer with a virtual production of It’s A Wonderful Life A Live Radio Play December 12 through 19. Health concerns caused some families to stay apart this year while this show serves to bring families closer together. The cast includes a husband and wife, two groups of siblings, and a father and daughter.
Tom Hall, who plays three different roles in this show, grew up in Ojai. His mother, Emily Hall, performed at the Art Center Theater from 1963 to 1972. He remembers at age five playing with his Dinky Toy cars under the seats while she rehearsed. As an adult Tom landed the part of none-other-than George Bailey in a stage performance of “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Tom met his wife, who played Mary, doing that show. Now in this Ojai ACT radio play version their daughter Emily, named for her grandmother, plays Mary. The connection doesn’t end there. Tom is a distant cousin of Lionel Barrymore, who played Mr. Potter in the film.
Recently the Ojai Film Festival screened “Arshan-The Little Soprano,” a documentary about young Arshan Barati becoming a virtuoso opera singer. Arshan plans to show off his singing skills in “It’s A Wonderful Life A Live Radio Play” when he performs alongside his younger siblings, Jahan and Shams. They both feel excited to work with their older brother because they grew up watching Arshan perform in plays and operas. Arshan likes the support that comes from performing with family members. He said, “This time around, since there is a wider age difference between me and my younger siblings, I hope I can be there for them; ready to help.”
Seventeen year-old Hadley Julca loves acting in plays and welcomes this opportunity to share the experience with her little sister. Eleven year-old Lily Rose Julca said, ”It’s really nice because Hadley’s helpful getting me set up on Zoom and getting my costume and remembering dates for things. It’s reassuring to know my big sister is there.”
Lynn Van Emmerik enjoys projects when her husband Bill Spellman joins the cast. “When I first met Lynn,” Bill said, “she hit me over the head with a beer bottle and then shot me.” The couple became acquainted in 1998 in a theater group, Dockside Murder Mysteries. Eventually Dockside fell apart, but Bill and Lynn continued attending the Ojai Film Society together, as friends. They began going other places together and, much to Bill’s surprise, the relationship turned romantic. He felt much too old for Lynn. She told him about family members in happy long-term relationships with age differences almost as great as theirs. Finally, a on New Year’s Eve 2019, he asked her father for permission to marry Lynn. They married June 3, 2019 in Yosemite National Park, two months before Bill turned 83.
Besides spending time with her husband, Lynn appreciates the theme of the story. She said, “’It’s A Wonderful Life A Live Radio Play’ is a great show, and I like that it reinforces the fact that everyone makes a difference in the lives of others.”
Ojai ACT hopes you gather your close family together to watch It’s A Wonderful Life A Live Radio Play. Streaming begins at 7 pm on Saturday, December 12. Tickets, available at ojaiact.org/iawl for $12.95, allows viewers to see the performance as many times as they like until midnight on Saturday, December 19.