Begin New Year's Eve by listening to Club version of 'It's a Wonderful Life' on Zoom at 7 p.m.

The National Press Club will close 2020 tonight with a Zoom-based radio play version of the classic story "It's a Wonderful Life" on New Year's Eve.

The program -- co-sponsored by the Club and American Heritage magazine -- will be available online at 7 p.m. 

The cast features 19 Club members covering 43 roles in the 62-page script. They are former presidents Mark Hamrick, Angela Greiling Keane, Jeff Ballou and Gil Klein; Governors Debra Silimeo, Danny Selnick and Mark Schoeff Jr.; and Club members Dan Raviv, Barbara Porter, Sam Litzinger, Irv Chapman, Ken Mellgren, Marc Wojno, Maurine Beasley, Mike Hempen, Adam Konowe, Jan Zastrow and Viola Gienger.

The program is directed by longtime broadcaster Marty Bufalini, who adapted the film script for radio. It is produced by Club senior video editor and theater veteran D. Scott Graham. 

"It's a Wonderful Life," a 1946 film starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, is the story of George Bailey, who, exasperated by life's challenges, wishes he'd never been born. Granted his wish by his guardian angel, he learns the positive impact of an individual's life on so many others.

Club President Michael Freedman, who coordinated the project as part of the Club's year-long commemoration of the centennial of radio, called it as a reminder that there was much to be thankful for despite the unprecedented challenges of this year.

"We've all been tested in 2020," Freedman said. "It has been a year of dramatic loss and personal tragedy for millions of people. At the same time, we have come together in so many ways to prove our perseverance, our fortitude, and our resilience. As we put 2020 into the history books, it's appropriate and healthy to close the year on an upbeat note and to remind ourselves it really is a wonderful life."