The comedy You Can’t Take It with You opens on Nov. 19 at the Dorothy Hackett Ward on the UTC campus.
Review for You Can't Take It with You:
This Pulitzer prize-winning play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart is populated with memorably whimsical characters such as an under-talented, but unflappable ballerina, an accidental novelist, a tax-dodging patriarch, a Grand Duchess, who is also a waitress and a bevy of G-men.
The relatively “normal” Alice (played by Kristina Lumm) brings her fiancé Tony (played by Austin Blackburn) and his straight-laced family to meet her eccentric family. Comedy ensues as personalities clash in a whirl of anarchistic candy, homemade fireworks and permanent visitors. The play is a tribute to America’s optimistic spirit while commenting on the perils of materialism.
This great American comedy “deals with ideas of expectation,” says director Gaye Jeffers. “I think it challenges our notion of the American dream in a comedic, quirky fashion.”
Steve Ray, head of UTC’s Department of Theatre and Speech, says, “We are really excited that our students are honing their comic skills on this classic play. It’s so much fun. I also think it has something important to say about holding on to what is best while celebrating the potential for change.”
The play, sponsored by the First Tennessee Foundation, runs from Nov. 19-23. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students and seniors and $12 general admission. Tickets are available at the UTC Box Office in the Fine Arts Center 425-4269 or online at tickettracks.com.
In addition to Lumm and Austin, You Can’t Take It with You features UTC student cast members Haley Talley, Emanuel Clark, Courtney Tucker, Falcian Page, Kimberly Skoda, Gabriel Bailey, Calvin Forrest, Sean Henon, Rebecca Rouse, Haley Wilson, Brandon Vaque, John Nichols, Cricket Glenn, Sophis Zincann, Matthey Erwin, Eryn Haber, Mason DeGroot and Nathan Dyar. The show is designed by UTC faculty members John Burgess, Adam Miecielica and Stephanie Henderson. Student Erin England is the Stage Manager.
Falcian Page as Paul Sycamore and Kimberly Skoda as Essie Carmichael in You Can't Take It with You production at UTC.