The performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 20-22, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 23, all inside BC’s Harman Chapel Auditorium. Admission for each performance will be $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Members of the BC family will be admitted for free.
The classic American comedy, written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart in 1936 during the height of the Great Depression, tells the story of the eccentric Sycamore family, who has never met a quirk they didn’t love.
Grandpa, who collects snakes and loves to attend college commencement exercises, dropped off the grid in 1924 and has never paid income tax because he doesn’t believe in it. His daughter, Penelope, is an aspiring playwright who has never finished a play. His son-in-law, Paul, makes illegal fireworks in the basement, and his granddaughter is a candy-making entrepreneur who has been studying ballet for eight years with a ballet master who fled the Russian revolution in 1917.
In short, the whole family is crazy — and loving, happy, and fulfilled, except for Alice, the normal daughter, in love with a Wall Street stockbroker named Anthony Kirby and hoping to marry into money and position. The play is the story of what happens when the Kirby family comes for dinner to meet their prospective in-laws.
Charles Reese, associate professor of theatre and artistic director for Bluefield College Theatre, plays the role of Grandpa, the patriarch of the Sycamore clan. Penelope is played by BC theatre alumna Katherine Santschi Shumate. Her husband, Paul, is played by Ed Fisher.
Ashley Burton plays the role of Alice, and Christian Barham plays Anthony Kirby, Jr. Other cast members include Heather Sharp as Essie; Noah Jennings as Ed; BC alumnus Ty Tatum as Kolenkhov; Aaron Sudderth as Mr. De Pinna; BC education professor Dr. Tom Brewster as Mr. Kirby, Sr.; BC alumna Summer Wilding as Mrs. Kirby; Hollis Laing as Rheba; Carleek Owens as Donald; Megan Moore as the inebriated actress Gay Wellington; Brian Fisher as Mr. Henderson from the IRS; and Keith Dunn, Halea Fowler, Sarah Minnix and Mary Jones as members of the FBI. Joining Reese in producing and directing the play is Rebecca McCoy-Reese, technical director and assistant professor of theatre.
“This show is a lot of fun,” said Charles Reese, “and it’s really right on target philosophically. It’s hard to believe the play was written in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1937. It is so current with the message of pursuing the things in life that bring you joy instead of pursuing financial success and excess.”
For more information about You Can’t Take It With You or other Bluefield College Theatre productions, contact Reese by phone at 276-326-4244 or by email at [email protected]