Courtney Tucker (as Penelope Sycamore), Falcian Page (Paul Sycamore) and Kimberly Skoda (Essie Carmichael), from left, are featured in the UTC Theatre Company production of "You Can't Take It With You," opening Tuesday.IF YOU GO:* What: "You Can't Play It With You"* When: Tuesday, Nov. 19-Saturday, Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m. with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Sunday.* Where: UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.* Admission: $10* Phone: 423-425-4269* Website: www.tickettracks.com
Comic bedlam ensues in the next production by the UTC Theatre Company, "You Can't Take It With You."
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart is populated with memorably whimsical characters such as an undertalented, 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 story is put in motion when 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 relatives.
The play is considered a tribute to America's optimistic spirit as well as a commentary on the perils of materialism. Director Gaye Jeffers calls it a great American comedy that "deals with ideas of expectation."
"I think it challenges our notion of the American dream in a comedic, quirky fashion."
Adds Steve Ray, head of UTC's Department of Theatre and Speech, "I also think it has something important to say about holding on to what is best while celebrating the potential for change."
The production runs Tuesday, Nov. 19, through Saturday, Nov. 23, in the Dorothy Hackett Ward Theatre on campus. 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 Fine Arts Center box office, 752 Vine St., by phone at 423-425-4269 or online at tickettracks.com.