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"You Can't Take It With You" brings laughs to Leb Theatre Co.

Submitted The Lebanon Theatre Co. presents "You Can't Take It With You" the next two weekends at 120 E. South St., Lebanon.

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 11:12 AM Thursday, October 1, 2009

Few plays call for one actor to learn the accordion, another to handle live snakes, and a third to sign a waiver in case he is injured making fireworks. But this is the wacky world the Lebanon Theatre Company will take audiences to when they present “You Can’t Take It With You” for the next two weekends at the Lebanon Shoe Factory, 120 E. South St., Lebanon.

“You Can’t Take It With You,” the beloved 1936 Pulitzer Prize winning comedy, is the story of the Sycamores, a sprawling family tree of eccentrics, happy to take on any unusual hobby or wayward soul that happens to cross their path.

The family’s bizarre behavior is brought to a humorous crescendo when daughter Alice, the most normal of the Sycamore clan, brings her straight-laced fiance and his uptight parents to the Sycamore estate for a visit.

“I love the humanness of the play,” said Paula Whitaker, who plays family matriarch Penny. “The family really cares for each other and teaches that affection to the Kirbys.”

Whitaker said that while she isn’t as “quirky” as Penny she can relate to being a mother and having a daughter who is dating.

Director Jhon Marshall said working with a large cast (the play book calls for a cast of 19, Marshall combined two roles to move the number down to 18) can be a challenge.

“The size is part of the confusion that makes the play funny,” Marshall said. “As a director you have to find reasons to make the people move in a way that is logical and motivated by the story.”

Marshall said he had twice directed the play with high school students but is having his best experience with the Lebanon Theatre Co., where the actors are “age appropriate” for the characters they play.

“The grandpa really is a grandpa, not a 16-year-old with a powdered wig,” Marshall said.

Marshall said the play, which is a favorite among community theaters and high school theater clubs, has continued to connect with audiences after 70 years because it deals with real family situations and dynamics, albeit in a humorous and exaggerated way.

“We all have a crazy relative,” Marshall said. “Maybe not one who is making firecrackers in the basement, but one we maybe want to put in a closet when guests visit.”

The show is sponsored by the Golden Lamb. Ticket holders can receive $10 off a dinner for two on the day of the show.

How to go

What: Lebanon Theatre Co. presents  “You Can’t Take It With You”

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 & 10; 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 & 11; 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9

Where: 120 E. South St., Lebanon

Cost: $16 (ticket holders can receive $10 off dinner for two at the Golden Lamb the day of the show)

Information: (513)228-0932 or www.ltcplays.com

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Just to set the record straight, we do NOT have live snakes in this production. The characters in the play have live ones, but the ones we use on stage are rubber.

Georgia Dunn
11:47 AM, 10/2/2009

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