The actors starring in The Company Theatre’s annual staging of “Merry Christmas, George Bailey” have a lot to juggle onstage, including creating both distinctive characters and solid sound effects. The biggest challenge this year, though, might be keeping their emotions in check. Damian Gillen, the troupe’s co-founder and guiding force, died in April just a few days before his 60th birthday. This is the first time the company has produced the show without him.
It is intended as a tribute to the late theater artist. “There will be tears that night,” said Jackson Thoma, Gillen’s biological son, during a rehearsal just over a week before the single performance of the show. “There are tears right now,” said Benji Regan, who plays the title role every year and also routinely appeared in two- and three-actor shows with Gillen year-round. “Merry Christmas, George Bailey” is the 1947 radio adaptation of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It pares down the story told in the beloved holiday film a bit, but the plot remains the same. A child-like angel named Clarence Odbody is dispatched to Earth to dissuade George Bailey from taking his own life. The angel, who has been promised that the mission will earn him his wings, hits on the idea of showing George the tremendous impact he has had on others and how much darker things would have been had he never been born. Regan and Thoma will be joined onstage by Heather Kelley, Schedel Luitjen and Nikki Young, who also is directing. Most of the cast have long associations with the play, which The Company has been doing for about 20 years. They also had all grown close to Gillen. So he possibility of ending 2024 without Gillen or the play weighed heavily on them. “There’s a lot of catharsis in doing this, giving us an outlet to pour out a little bit of what we’ve been holding in since he passed,” Regan said
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