By Vienna Zerbe
The YS theater club is preparing to present You Can’t Take It With You written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. The clubs plans to unveil their show April 26, 27 and 28 at 7:30 pm.
Theater director Shannon Metzler and crew director Amber Krzanowski held auditions for the club earlier in March. Metzler said, “I love this show because it is a classic. It happens to be one that is very popular on lists that high schools have done, that’s more so because of the cast size, it is a large cast so you’re able to include a lot of people. It has a sweet message and it has interesting characters.”
You Can’t Take It With You tells the story of the delightful and dysfunctional Sycamore family. The Sycamores are a group of individuals who all have some sort of unorthodox hobby or oddity. There is Paul Sycamore, who makes homemade fireworks in the basement, and then tests them in the space, Essie Sycamore, a ballet dancer who cannot do everything well but ballet dancing, or even Grandpa Vanderhof, who chooses not to pay his income tax because he doesn’t believe in it.
The play centers around the lovely Alice Sycamore, who seems to be the only normal Sycamore. Alice captures the affection of Tony Kirby, the wealthy son of banker owner Mr. Kirby. Tony adores the Sycamore family upon being introduced to them, despite Alice’s qualms.
Alice and Tony’s plans for the future quickly run into an obstacle when they find the Kirby’s don’t seem to take to the Sycamore’s dysfunctional antics. When neither side, seems to want to compromise to the other’s lifestyle, Alice begins to believe that a future with Tony is out of the question.
In order to see if Alice and Tony’s love can prevail, come see the production You Can’t Take It With You!
- Theater Director, Shannon Metzler
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- “There are a lot of fun things we get to do set wise with this show. Special effects wise, there are things that the tech team has been looking forward ever since we had this show on the docket. The audience is going to see, in some sense, fireworks, a lot of chaos, set lighting we haven’t done before. I’m really excited for the technical aspect for the group that we have because the tech team has a lot of problems to solve and a set to build, but the actors really have diverse roles. There is a nice balance of both. I told the cast from the beginning that each of actor has a dynamic that is different from their personality that they have to own. I really like that, I think that we have the right group of actors who, many of them, are veterans enough that they know how to do that and run with it. Those who are not veterans have so much potential that it will be really easy to work with them. I think that this is just the right show at the right time.”
- Freshman, Peter Cote (Paul Sycamore”
- “My character is a quirky old man,not really old, but middle aged. He toys with fireworks in the basement. “I am excited to work with the fireworks, especially with Michael Curtis. Curtis is the tech god. I am also excited for, I believe it is, act 2. That’s when everything goes crazy with the G men. It will all just be very fun with blocking.”
- Senior, Abbey Hardman (Essie)
- “She’s pretty spunky, creative, and determined to be a ballerina. Although, she is a very bad dancer. She enjoys making candy. Her husband Ed plays the xylophone for her while she practices dancing. She has a great relationship with her husband, very loving. She is a girly-girl who is a bad dancer. I’m really excited for the dancing and the choreography because it is going to be really funny and it is going to be interesting to try to do that without laughing.”
- Freshman, Steven File (Ed Carmichael)
- “Xylophone. Printing press. Masks. I am really excited for the snakes. They are right near me during the show.”
- Senior, Marisa Kouma (Wilma Henderson)
- “My character is the IRS worker, Henderson, who is all business. She wants Grandpa Martin Vanderhof to pay his taxes. He has not paid income taxes in twenty four years. I want to see all the craziness in general. Everyone is trying to do different things all at the same time. I’m excited but I am sad knowing it will be my last show with YSTJT.”
- Sophomore, Asher Ruppert (Tony Kirby)
- “In this show, I am Tony Kirby. I am the son of a business owner. I try to keep myself a little bit reserved, but at the same time, when I’m around the right people, I let myself loose and have a good time. Being able to interact with the characters, they have such distinct personalities. There’s just so much you can do with the situations and everything like that. I am excited to see what happens on stage.”
- Junior, Elijah Tapp (Mr. Kirby)
- “I am the father of the romantic protagonist, Tony, and I’m pretty much just a grouchy old man. I am excited to be body slammed by the russian guy. It’s going to happen in act 2.”
- Senior, Steven Burchett (Grandpa Vanderhof)
- “My role is the grandpa, Martin Vanderhof. Basically, he is this old man who has come to terms with life. A big thing is he hasn’t paid taxes in years. He sees the entire idea of business and the real world as sucking the fun out of life. I kind of relate to that, a little bit, I see where he is coming from. What I’m most excited for is seeing a bunch of these wacky characters that come together to be a loving, caring family and how that conflicts with their interests. A lot of them are just into doing wacky things for their own enjoyment. You see a weird conflict where they care about each other, but they care about what they do just as much. Another dynamic I love about this play is the entire idea of Alice learning to accept her family for who they are. Even though she seems do that in the beginning, she has to come to terms with the fact that they are other people out there that aren’t judgemental and can see people for the greatness in them and not just simply for the wacky stuff they do, or what we may find to be unusual.”
- Junior, Ellen Korver (Rheba)
- “I will be playing Rheba the housemaid. She’s been with the family for a long time. She calls people Miss, Mrs., Mr. Even though she knows them on a first hand experience. She is currently dating Donald, who is a person who comes around once in a while. He’s on a work leave so he has to go stand in line. Mr. Kolenkhov keeps trying to make me become a dancer, but I can’t because I have corns on my feet. She is just a sweet maid who cares for people, even though they’re quirky and she’s quirky. The thing I’m most excited about is to see how people grow into their character and how their characters grow. We’ve gotten a description, this is their habits, this their quirks, but depending on the actor or actress, they can change that completely. They can become that character. Later on in the show we will see, ‘wow, they are really meant for that character!’”
- Junior, Kirill Cross (Mr. De Pinna)
- “He is a fifty year old man, who is a nice man. He brought ice to the house 8 years ago and decided to stay and be the sidekick to Paul Sycamore. They make rockets in the cellar. I’m most excited for the painting scene where I pose in a toga.”
- Junior, Emerson White (Boris Kolenkhov)
- “I’m playing Boris Kolenkhov, who I believe is a russian immigrant. I know he’s russian, but he comes over and he hangs out with the family and he’s very involved in russian politics. I’m most excited because this is my final show. I am really excited that I get a role that not only has a lot of lines but is a role that I’m really willing to do, especially in an accent that isn’t normal speaking voice. It’s gonna be a fun twist on my final show.”