FRANK CAPRA’S IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE  ON THE BIG SCREEN AT SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE ON DECEMBER 11;

ADMISSION IS BY BRINGING A GIFT FOR CHARITY

The next selection in Sierra Madre Playhouses’s Off the Screen midweek series of cinema classics is It’s a Wonderful Life, chosen to complement the weekend live stage attraction Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and Then Some!).

The screening of It’s a Wonderful Life will take place on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. The price of admission is by donating a gift to our beneficiary charity, Hope House.

Hope House operates 12 homes in the area for individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism and other mental health challenges.

Half of the homes serve children and young adults, ages 7 to 22.

Its mission statement is as follows:  Hope House exists to improve the lives of children and adults with co-occurring autism, intellectual disabilities and mental health needs by building opportunities for discovery, choice and self-determination.

The executive director of Hope House is David A. Bernstein, a thirty-year resident of Sierra Madre.

Hope House’s wish list for gifts includes arts and crafts/activity sets, puzzles, board games, markers and coloring books, bath towels and wash cloths, basketballs, portable basketball hoops, solid color bedding sets (twin and full), flat screen TVs, chargers and charging cords, a fax machine, and sofas, among other things. Whatever you can donate will be warmly appreciated. In return, you get to see a great classic film.

As always, there will be a film historian present at the screening to provide interesting commentary on the film. The Off the Screen series is curated by Rich Procter and produced by Sierra Madre Playhouse Artistic Director Christian Lebano.

It’s a Wonderful Life. Family/ Fantasy. Produced and directed by Frank Capra. Written by Capra, Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Jo Swerling, Philip Van Doren Stern. From RKO Radio Pictures. (Black-and-white, 1946, USA, 150 minutes, rated PG) Starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Gloria Grahame. An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Winner- Golden Globe Award; National Board of Review.

This is an unusual opportunity to see this holiday classic on a big screen.

It’s a wonderful movie.

Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024. This is just east of Pasadena. Parking is available on the street or in free parking lots behind the Playhouse and across the street. Box office: (626) 355-4318. Website: www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

Sierra Madre Playhouse’s live holiday stage show this year is Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and Then Some!). It runs weekends from December 6 through December 29. For more information, go to www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, and Happy Holidays to you.