From left: Lauren Seale, Hayley Procacci, Jack Cannon, Ben Lundy and Meredith Morse in Theatre UAB's "You Can't Take It With You"Theatre UAB will present a time-honored classic of the American stage, “You Can’t Take It With You,” to open its new 2016-2017 season of performances.
Theatre UAB, the performance company of the University of Alabama at Birmingham College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Theatre, will present the play Oct. 19-23, at Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, a wacky family finds their routine disrupted when one of the daughters brings her fiancé and his wealthy Wall Street family to dinner. George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart wrote the time-honored American farce, and Professor of Theatre and Performance Dennis McLernon will direct. A classic since it opened on Broadway in 1936, it was also made into an Academy Award-winning film.
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. nightly Oct. 19-22 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, in the Alys Stephens Center’s Sirote Theatre. Tickets are $12 and $15, $6 for students, and $10 for UAB employees and senior citizens. For tickets, call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org. Visit Theatre UAB online at www.uab.edu/cas/theatre.
Playwrights Kaufman and Hart crafted a zany comedy involving more than a dozen eccentric characters and romance as well as slapstick, McLernon says. Witty dialogue and one-liners run rampant throughout the play, and “yet a deeply philosophical layer lies just below the surface of all this comedy.”
Set in New York City in the Depression era, the plot revolves around two young people in love who come from two very different types of families, he says. Young Alice of the Sycamores fears that her family might be a little too unconventional for her beau Tony Kirby and his Wall Street-centric, socialite family. These two ways of life come face to face in a spontaneous bit of comedic crisis, and all involved are forced to become a bit more introspective than they are accustomed.
“‘You Can’t Take It With You’ explores themes that mean so much to so many of us: personal growth and identity, living for today, following our heart in what we choose to do in life, the pressure to conform, living the life of the status quo, following our dreams, letting go of judgment of others, contentment, inner peace, to live and let live, and the list goes on,” McLernon said.
“It is the artful exploration of these ideas through characters that are rooted in honesty and humanity despite their comedic circumstances that makes ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ such an enjoyable night in the theater.”
The cast is Jack Cannon as Martin Vanderhof; Lauren Seale of Greenville as Penny Sycamore; Mark Nelson of Fort Payne as Paul Sycamore; Meredith Morse of Westerville, Ohio, as Alice Sycamore; Hayley Proccaci of Hoover as Essie Carmichael; Ben Lundy of Fairhope as Ed Carmichael; Brian Wittenberg of Johns Creek, Georgia, as Mr. De Pinna; Brady Grimm of Fairhope as Donald; Holly Morgan of Madison as Rheba; Antonio Mitchell of Phoenix City as Kolenkhov; Josh Benjamin of Birmingham as Tony Kirby; Dai’sean Garret of Childersburg as Mr. Kirby; Allie Nichols of Tupelo, Mississippi, as Olga Katrina; Joey Parker of Kansas City, Missouri, as Mr. Henderson; Anna Whitlock of Alabaster as Gay Wellington; and Kyle Bookout of Waller, Texas, Lucas Bradley of Mountain Brook and Sean Regan of Birmingham as G-Men.
The crew includes costume runners Margaret Tompkins of Mountain Brook and Taylor Stefanski of Racine, Wisconsin; light board operator Addie Counts of Chattanooga, Tennessee; sound board operator DeUndra Walker of Mobile; assistant stage managers Rita Person-Daley of Montgomery and Aaron Duncan of Vestavia; and stage manager Noah Parsons of Pell City.