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You Can't Take It With You

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Directed by: Kyle McClaran
Performances: November 16 - December 9, 2006

At first the Sycamores seem mad, but it is not long before you realize that if they are mad, the rest of the world is madder.

“YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU” IS SCHEDULED

[ Photo at right features Kevin Norwood as Donald (left), Susan Platt as Penelope Sycamore (front), Renee Krapff as Essie (back), and Frances Elijah as Rheba (right) ]

Garland, Texas, October 10, 2006 — Garland Civic Theatre will open its third production of the current season, You Can’t Take It With You, with a preview performance on November 16, 2006. Other performances are scheduled at the small theatre in the Granville Arts Center, 300 North Fifth in downtown Garland for November 17, 18, 24, 25, 31, December 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9 at 8:00 PM and November 19, 25, 26, December 3, and 9 at 2:00 PM. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 972-205-2790. Ticket prices are $16 to $20, depending on the performance. Discounts are available for those over 60 and under 18. Special prices are also available for groups of 15 or more. Be aware that there is a processing charge of $1 per ticket.

You Can't Take It with You opened in New York in December of 1936 to instant critical and popular acclaim. This depiction of a delightfully eccentric family, the third collaboration by playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, proved to be their most successful and longest-running work. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1936, the comedy went on to run 837 performances on Broadway. Kaufman and Hart sold the film rights to Columbia Pictures for a record-setting amount, and the 1938 film won an Academy Award for best picture. Perennially appealing to audiences, You Can't Take It with You has become an American classic, regularly produced by high schools, colleges, and community theaters around the country. Successful Broadway revivals in 1965 and 1983 also attest to the play's timeless appeal.

You Can't Take It with You relates the humorous encounter between a conservative family and the crazy household of Grandpa Martin Vanderhof. Grandpa's family of idiosyncratic individualists amuses with their energetic physical antics and inspire with their wholehearted pursuit of happiness. Kaufman and Hart fill the stage with chaotic activity from beginning to end. Critics have admired the witty one-liners, the visual theatricalism, and the balanced construction of the play's three acts. Although You Can't Take It with You is undeniably escapist theater which prompts immediate enjoyment rather than complex analysis, it has clearly influenced American comedy. The formula originated by Kaufman and Hart—a loveable family getting into scrapes and overcoming obstacles—has been adopted as a format by most of today's television situation comedies.

The GCT Artistic Director, Kyle McClaran, who is directing the production has assembled an outstanding cast including Don Berger, Joseph Cummings, Michael Devous, Frances Elijah, Doug Fowler, Tracy Hurd, Renee Krapff, Cheryl Lowber, Kevin Norwood, Julie Penkava, Susan Platt, Joe Porter, Greg Pugh, and Michael Wiseman.

Garland Civic Theatre, a member of Dallas Theatre League and Texas Non-profit Theatres, is enjoying its 39th season of theatre in Garland. Season sponsors include Garland Cultural Arts Commission, Texas Commission on the Arts, Target, and The Dallas Morning News. Visit the GCT website at www.garlandcivictheatre.org or call 972-485-8884 for additional information.