Youcan'ttakeitwithyou Study Guide
Pacific Conservatory Theatre Student Matinee Program Presents
By Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
A Study Guide for Educators
Generously sponsored by Richard and Jean Jacoby Ron and Mary Nanning
Welcome to PCPA
A NOTE TO THE TEACHER
Thank you for bringing your students to PCPA. Here are some helpful hints for your visit to the Marian Theatre. The top priority of our staff is to provide an enjoyable day of live theatre for you and your students. Use the study guide to prepare your students prior to the performance. Each study guide has grade level notations that will help you navigate to material you can use in your curriculum.
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENT ETIQUETTE
Note-able behavior is a vital part of theater for youth. Going to the theater is not a casual event. It is a special occasion. If students are prepared properly, it will be a memorable, educational experience for all.
1. Have students enter the theater in a single file. We suggest you have one adult for every ten to fifteen students. Our ushers will assist you with locating your seats. Please wait until the usher has seated your party before any rearranging of seats to avoid injury and confusion. While seated, teachers should space themselves so they are visible, between every ten to fifteen students. Teachers and adults must remain with their group during the entire performance.
2. Once seated in the theater, students may go to the bathroom in small groups and with the teacher’s permission. Please chaperone younger students. Once the show is over, please have students remain seated until the lead instructor / chaperone dismisses your students.
3. Please remind your students that we do not permit: • food, gum, drinks, backpacks or large purses • disruptive talking. • disorderly and inappropriate behavior (stepping on/over seats, throwing objects, etc.) • cameras, radios, cell phones, audio recorders, electronics games or toys. (Adults are asked to put cell phones on silent or vibrate.) In cases of disorderly behavior, groups may be asked to leave the theater without ticket refunds.
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4. Teachers should take time to remind students before attending the show of the following about a live performance:
Sometimes we forget when we come into a theatre that we are one of the most important parts of the production. Without an audience there would be no performance. Your contribution of laughter, quiet attention and applause is part of the play. When we watch movies or television we are watching images on a screen, and what we say or do cannot affect them. In the theatre the actors are real people who are present and creating an experience with us at that very moment. They see and hear us and are sensitive to our response. They know how we feel about the play by how we watch and listen. An invisible bond is formed between actors and a good audience, and it enables the actors to do their best for you. A good audience helps make a good performance.
5. Photographs and / or recording of any kind is forbidden in our theatre. However, there will be a very special “Photo Opportunity” display for you and your students in our lobby. Feel free to take as many pictures in our “selfie” corner as you’d like.
The Education and Outreach department of PCPA welcomes you as a partner in the live theatre experience from the moment you take your seats. We hope that your visit will be a highlight of your school year.
Chad Sommervill as Tony Kirby , George Walker (back) as Ed, Madison Shaheen (right) as Alice and Karin Hendricks as Essie.
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HOW TO USE THIS STUDY GUIDE
The Study Guide is a companion piece designed to explore many ideas depicted in the stage production of You Can’t Take It With You. Although the guide's intent is to enhance the student's theatrical experience, it can also be used as an introduction to the elements of a play, and the production elements involved in the play's presentation. This specific stage adaptation presents a wealth of new questions for this generation to answer. The guide has been organized into three major sections: Elements of the story Elements of production Activities Teachers and group leaders will want to select portions of the guide for their specific usage. Discussion questions are meant to provoke a line of thought about a particular topic. The answers to the discussion questions in many instances will initiate the process of exploration and discovery of varied interpretations by everyone involved. This can be as rewarding as the wonderful experience of sight and sound that You Can’t Take It With You creates on-stage.
George Walker as Ed and Karin Hendricks as Essie
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Creative Team and The Cast of You Can’t Take It With You By Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Director Roger DeLaurier Scenic Designer Jason Bolen Costume Designer Eddy L. Barrows Lighting Designer Tim Thistleton Sound Designer Andrew Mark Wilhelm Stage Manager Ellen Beltramo*
The Cast PENELOPE SYCAMORE ...... Polly Firestone Walker ESSIE ...... Karin Hendricks RHEBA ...... Bianca Norwood PAUL SYCAMORE ...... Don Stewart* MR. DE PINNA ...... Tyler Campbell ED ...... George Walker DONALD...... Iven Webster MARTIN VANDERHOF ...... Peter Hadres* ALICE ...... Madison Shaheen HENDERSON ...... Myles Romo TONY KIRBY ...... Chad Sommerville BORIS KOLENKHOV ...... Andrew Philpot* GAY WELLINGTON ...... Katie Wackowski MR. KIRBY ...... Brad Carroll MRS. KIRBY ...... Kitty Balay* THE MAN...... Jerik Fernandez MAC ...... Quincy Van Steenberge JIM ...... Johnny Davison OLGA...... Maya Sherer
*Member, Actors' Equity Association
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ELEMENTS OF THE STORY
Synopsis of the Production At the center of our play, is The Vanderhof family. The family members are a variety of happy and spontaneous, sometimes incompetent (yet lovable) characters. Grandpa, Martin Vanderhof, is the head of the house hold. He is the philosophical patriarch of this erratic family and a man that seems to have found the meaning of true happiness. He has also been at odds with the Internal Revenue Service for years. His daughter, Penelope Sycamore is a want to be playwright, and her husband Paul is a fireworks maker and works out of the cellar. Penelope and Paul’s daughters and son-in- law are Essie Carmichael who studies ballet in the living room, and her husband Ed who has a passion for the printing presses and xylophones, which he manages simultaneously. Alice is the youngest daughter, and may be the only “normal” character in the house. Alice works on Wall Street as a secretary for the financier Mr. Kirby. Alice’s boyfriend, Tony Kirby (her bosses son), is the complete opposite of Alice’s family. He is a successful businessman with a conservative education. Though, he is from a different walk of life, Tony truly likes Alice’s family and is head over heals in love with Alice in spite of her eccentric family. Alice, is much more uncertain about the match, as she never knows what to expect with the extreme differences between her home life and Tony’s. Naturally, when Tony proposes marriage, Alice has her misgivings, but is very much in love and soon the couple are engaged. With some resistance from Alice, the two agree to have a dinner for Tony’s parents to meet the Vanderhof family. Alice, reasons with her family to temper their daily activities on the night of the dinner, to insure that they do not overwhelm Tony’s parents with the household shenanigans. Her family happily agree to Alice’s request, for “normalcy” when the Kirbys come for dinner. But as is standard in the Vanderhof house hold, nothing goes according to plans. The Kirbys mistakenly arrive to dinner a day early. And the Vanderhof clan, are carrying on a usual, not quite reserved and behaved as planned. Alice’s worst fears begin to surface as the The Kirbys, are whirled into the crazy antics of the Vanderhof routine. Naturally, they are shocked and appalled by the untamed lifestyles of the Vanderhofs, which unexpectedly results in a police raid of the house, and the arrest of everyone present—including the Kirbys. Convinced that the two families will never get along, Alice, decides to leave; but Tony, does not agree. He is determined to marry Alice and tells her that he brought his parents to the party a night early on purpose. In hopes that they might see what a “real family” is like, in a home filled with love. Angry with his son, Mr. Kirby is appalled that Tony would want to marry into such a family. But Tony is determined to marry Alice. Seeing how the events have lead to heartbreak and hopelessness, Grandpa has a talk with Mr. Kirby, and helps him to understand the true importance in one’s life can be found in the fun and happiness of those you love. That is the key to a successful life. “You’ve got all the money you need. You can’t take it with you. . . . And what’s it got you? Same kind of mail every morning, same kind of deals, same kind of meetings, same dinners at night, same indigestion. Where does the fun come in? Don’t you think there ought to be something more. . . . We haven’t got too much time, you know--any of us.”
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THE DIRECTOR’S THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PLAY
Director, Roger DeLaurier
Director Roger DeLaurier, who worked on this play 21 years ago, says he has taken a new approach this time out and has an even greater appreciation for it. First, the set has been completely reimagined. “It’s really different and that helps because the house itself is kind of a character in the play and with that new vision, it helps me see the play differently.” DeLaurier added, “And, I think I just know a lot more now because I’ve done a lot of comedies over those 21 years. I see the mechanics of the play more clearly. I know how the machine is put together.” The director also has a stronger affinity for the character of Grandpa whose life purpose is to pursue your bliss, the stuff that gives you deep satisfaction and real meaning to your life. What brings Grandpa fulfillment is helping them find their satisfaction. What he says is really simple, that life should be fun, and if you’re not having fun, you really need to re-examine what you’re doing.” The play’s structure was also unique for its time and continues to resonate in modern comedies. Kaufman and Hart invented the mechanism for situation comedies. The premise is that of the whacky family at the center of the comedy with outside forces of the “normal world” for them to bounce off of. “I’ll be more then half of the sitcoms currently on TV today revolve around the Kaufman and Hart formula,” said DeLaurier. The 1930s writing team also utilized every form of comedy available to them to create this zany show, starting with farce. “In the first nine pages of the play there are 29 entrances and exits. That’s pure farce. It starts there, but we have slapstick comedy, we have comedy of language, some very American vaudeville rhythm jokes with set ups and punch lines, and then situational and character comedy along with running sight gags. And it bounces back and forth. It just has the whole arsenal of comedic techniques contained in it.” DeLaurier observed. At it’s basic level, the play is just a warmhearted American play that looks at very American values of work ethic, money, achievement, and status, and how that effects your own true happiness.
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About The Success of You Can’t Take It With You When You Can’t Take It With You opened on December of 1936, at the Booth Theatre in New York, the play hit home with audiences and critics alike. People loved the story and the humorous conflict between the characters that are the “haves” and the “have not”. It was also a tremendous boon for the playwrights, Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, as they were recognized for their unparalleled collaboration in writing the comedy with such genius. There was no doubt, America instantly fell in love with the Vanderhof / Sycamore family, as they clearly reflected the absurdity of the social and political issues of the era, known as “The Great Depression”. You Can’t Take It With You offered a figurative laugh, as well as warmth for an ailing country, now six years into the Great Depression. Even with President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” which offered jobs and relief through government programs, in 1932, 25 percent of Americans remained jobless. Audiences were eager to forget their troubles. People would find “escape” in darkened theatres of both stage and screen, with “screw ball” comedies. In fact, the Broadway production of You Can’t Take It With You was still playing when the film adaptation opened at Radio City Music Hall in 1938, just five blocks away from the Booth Theatre. Even though, throughout the 1930’s, serious dramas and plays were also being made, with themes of political discourse and social criticism, comedies were, on a national level, the popular choice for entertainment of the day. By today’s standards, comedies are often perceived to be a lowbrow art form. Labeled, “frat boy comedy” or “gross out” and “romantic comedy”, in the 1930’s, the “screwball comedy” was celebrated. In fact, You Can’t Take It With You was awarded the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the film version of the play received Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director (and was nominated in five other categories). Some scholars have pointed out that the success of the play and film is evidence of a deeper resonance in the madcap story. The Vanderhof / Sycamore family, within their zaniness, are also a tight-knit family, and Grandpa, within his anti- government extremism, is also a symbol of the power of the individual against (in the words of late professor Charles Kaplan) “impersonal and powerful economic forces.” Standing firm and loony, You Can’t Take It With You offered audiences both laughs and the hope that a family could be happy within a struggling city.
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About The Authors