Spring Play 2008 - "You Can't Take It With You"

The Drama Dept produced the Award-winning Kaufman and Hart comedy You Can't take It With You as the 2008 Spring Play.

It was given a three night showing in the WG Little Theater, and ran for huge audiences...They loved it!
The play was originally to be directed by Mrs Romanowski, but she was expecting her first child and the direction was then taken over by Mr. Schaefer two weeks into rehearsal. Always fun to throw some curlballs at a cast.

"Everybody at over at our place does just what he wants to do."
-Grandpa 


The entire cast of the show at the final dress rehearsal

Amazing talent across the stage!

This was an incredible play to work on and the production really challenged us. The play has a lot of small details and special items that make it work and it took everyone involved to make this one come to life! It turned out to be one of the most heartwarming and beautiful plays we've done.

The cast brought tears to our eyes
with there charm each and every night.

Such a joy!
T-Shirt design by Mr. Schaefer and Mel Bodkin

The Setting:
The home of Martin Vanderhof - just around the corner from Columbia University
New York, June 1938

ACT I 
A Wednesday evening

ACT II
A week later

Intermission

ACT II 
The next day


Plot Synopsis
(Taken directly from Wikipedia)

At first the Sycamores seem mad, but it is not long before you realize that if they are mad, then the rest of the world is madder. In contrast to these delightful people are the unhappy Kirbys. Tony, the attractive young son of the Kirbys, falls in love with Alice Sycamore and brings his parents to dine at the Sycamore house on the wrong evening. The shock sustained by Mr. and Mrs. Kirby, who are invited to eat cheap food, shows Alice that marriage with Tony is out of the question. The Sycamores find it hard to understand Alice's view. Tony knows the Sycamores live the right way with love and care for each other, while his own family is the one that's crazy. In the end, Mr. Kirby is converted to the happy madness of the Sycamores after he happens in during a visit by the ex-Grand Duchess of Russia, Olga Katrina, who is currently earning her living as a waitress.


Watch a scene
from our production
by clicking on the folowing link:


(The video clip) - Caroline Siede (as Penny) playing gracious hostess
as she proposes playing a guessing game called "Forget Me Not" with the Kirby family


Director’s Notes:
(from the program)

If asked, can you say that you love what you do? Do you spend every moment of the day doing exactly what you want to do? Do you regret not making a different choice in life? Are you happy? Are ready for a wake up call?

Kaufman and Hart’s You Can’t Take It With You explores a couple momentous days in the house hold of a very special family. The Sycamores are a family who love each other, love what they do and love almost anyone who walks through the door. If you drop by the Sycamores you may end up staying…not just overnight, but maybe for a couple of years. Without the burden of social expectations weighing them down, they go through the day following their bliss and their seemly simple hobbies become life paths that bring them constant happiness. Who wouldn’t love that for their life?

This isn’t necessarily reality we are presenting but a snapshot of an ideal and a way to achieve a different kind of success. As Grandpa will tell us tonight, “You can’t take it with you.” Live for the now, live for yourself, and live to be happy. Cause in the end nobody can take that away from you.
Enjoy your short visit with the Sycamore’s, and try to just relax. - Mr. Schaefer
                            Chaos insues as the unexpected dinner guests arrive

The cast was an all-star cast of our best Drama dept comedians and they really got into their parts!


THE SET

This was a wonderful opportunity to design and build a classic box set, and the technical theatre classes did an awesome job with their responsiblities on this show.

Mr. Schaefer layed out the floor plan based on what we were told by the playwrights and he drew up the blueprints for the design. The floorplan for the Little Theater was a class project, and all of the technical students had to measure and draw a blueprint of the space before we even started working on this show. (We still use the same L.T. arial blueprint today.)


This gave the classes the map for their design of the walls, doors, staircase etc. The department decided to build some fresh flats for this show which gave the classes the opportunity to learn how to construct hardwall flats. The platforms we used were from stock (that's how we got some of the crazy angles you see above)


 

This show gave us the opportunity to play around with wacky wall angles and all kinds of different textures in the house.




 The cast rehearsing the scene with the Kirby's...the set is built but not yet painted



SOME CHALLENGES with the SET

A full swing kitchen door
A Staircase
Stainglass (student designed and colored)
Marble columns
Wallpaper designs (student designed / hand cut stencils)
Fake brick
Fake woodwork
Fake plaster walls

Other technical Challenges

Fireworks (sound effects and smoke machine)
LOTS and LOTS of PROPS!!! (including plates of fake food)



CAST
(in order of appearance)

Caroline Siede..............................................Penny
Julianne Towers...........................................Essie
Natalie Lester...............................................Rheba
Conner Barnes.............................................Paul
Sam Holden.................................................Mr. De Pinna
Scott McDonald..........................................Ed
Patrick Barbercheck....................................Donald
Jack Bourgeois............................................Grandpa
Maddie Byrne..............................................Alice
Will Burchfield............................................Wilbur C. Henderson
Chris Sears...................................................Tony
Jake Fruend..................................................Mr. Kolenkov
Katie Killeen................................................Gay Wellington
Brennan Eller...............................................Mr. Kirby
Annie Crites.................................................Mrs. Kirby
Melissa Moorefield......................................Olga Katrina
Jerome Riley
Cameron Stelling
Tommy Degroot
Geoff Peasall...............................................G-Men
Maddie Byrne and Caroline Siede

The CREW

Kevin Clark.......................................Sound OP
Anne Romer......................................Light Op
Tommy Jernigan...............................Fireworks OP
Anne Fedde......................................Stainglass design
Megan Navia and Sarah Manuel......Props
Louise Love......................................Costumes
Erin Carmody...................................House manager


Make-up crew
Louie Love, Hillary Bird, Caitlin Ward, Aaron Buleski

Scenic artists
Anne Fedde, Louise Love, Stevie Trembley, Laura Mitchler, Megan navia, Louis hayes, Grace Gogarty, Tommy Jernigan, Sean O'Brien, Aaron Buleski, Kevin Clark, Becca Theerman, Sarah Manuel, Anne Romer, and Mr. Schaefer



Special Thanks
We would like to thank 5th and 6th hour Technical Theatre classes for all of their work in designing and building the amazing set, 7th hour tech for rebuilding the new Little Theater lights, Stephanie Hill for her fabulous wallpaper stencil design, Nicki Swanson, Anna Fedde and Marquita Daniels for their gorgeous stained glass designs, Sarah Witchard and Bristol Elementary for the use of their xylophone, Lisa Picker for the use of her classroom snake “?”, Maureen Cashel for her extremely fast turn-around on all of our printing, the Buck family for donating their period sofa, Mr. Paul for his set decoration contributions, Mr. Grooms for lending his ear, our Thespian troupe 191 board for their unending dedication and hard work bringing WGHS productions to our audiences, and Mrs. Romanowski for being our “Momma”.

                              

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