Christmas has come early this year at the Mile Square Theatre.

On Thursday, the theatre was scheduled to continue the winter portion of its 2011-12 season Thursday night with its first performance of the holiday themed It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.

The production is an adaptation, written by Joe Landry, of the famous 1946 movie starring James Stewart. The story is presented by real-life actors portraying actors performing the play in a recording studio for the radio. The set that the audience sees is the recording studio, which includes three microphones and other sound equipment. As the actors read their lines, the audience will have the chance to imagine the fictional world of Bedford Falls on their own.

Five actors star in the show, each performing in multiple voices, sometimes playing two characters in the same conversation. John Keller and Annapurna Sriram play the actors who play leads George and Mary Bailey, while Tim Barker, Jon Bass and Karla Hendrick's primary characters portray numerous roles in the radio play. Barker does the voice of the villainous old miser Mr. Potter, while Bass does the voice of the saving angel Clarence. Hendrick is particularly versatile lending voice to every other female in the play, including between the ages of small child and senior citizen.

In an actual radio play taking place in a recording studio, and not in front of a live audience, the actors would just have to say their lines into a microphone. But having an audience compelled director Matthew Lawler to treat the production as a regular play.

“I didn't want this to be a typical radio play where the actors stand behind one mic the whole time,” Lawler said. “I added a couple of dances and a fair amount of movement between the mics that I hope will lift the story for the viewing audience and create more of an interesting stage picture.”

Lawler said casting the production took a lot of time, because he needed to find actors who could handle multiple roles.

“I wanted to make sure they were embodying the people they were playing and not just doing something different with their voice," he said.

Rounding out the cast onstage is real life music director Sam McUmber, who plays a sound engineer in the recording studio entrusted with making all of the audio effects for the radio play. Though McUmber doesn't speak any lines, he is constantly simulating ringing telephones, chirping crickets, slamming doors and other effects, all with clever and organic methods.

The radio play follows the plot of the film. Though most audience members will probably already know how the story unfolds, Lawler said he hopes to still touch them with the play's message.

“I think the play reminds us about the impact we have on each other's lives, and it asks us to take responsibility for that,” he said. “George Bailey reminds us to be good to one another.”

To see George Bailey, and his wife Mary, and Mr. Potter and Clarence and all the rest of those familiar faces from the movie recast in a new light, see the Mile Square Theatre's production of It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. The show runs at 8 p.m. every Thursday through Saturday from Dec. 1 through Dec. 18, with Saturday and Sunday matinees those weekends at 3pm. For tickets, visit the company's website.