Drama

  This year GCCA brings you an uproarious and heartfelt production of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s, You Can’t Take it With You. This play has been in the top six most performed high school plays in America every decade since it was written in 1936. It is a story that consistently reminds us that no matter how alluring wealth is, it is relationships that bring us true happiness.

 

  The story revolves around two families from opposite ends of the social spectrum. The Kirbys own a successful manufacturing company, are part of high society, and are eager to increase their holdings. The Sycamores are a highly creative and entrepreneurial family who do whatever they enjoy for the sake of enjoying it. The mother writes plays, the daughter is learning ballet and making candy, her husband plays xylophone and prints things, the father makes fireworks in the basement, and Grandpa, the family patriarch, attends commencement speeches to get a laugh. The Kirby’s son, Tony, falls in love with the Sycamore’s daughter, Alice, which leads to the two families meeting in a riotous collision. 

 

  At the heart of the story is a deeply philosophical question - what is the purpose of life? One family believes it is financial success and security. The other holds firmly that it is enjoying your life by pursuing the things that you love and the relationships that bring you joy. As the play progresses, we get to witness the softening of the cold financial magnate as Mr. Kirby is reminded of what used to make his life fun.  We are invited to put aside our own pursuit of school to get jobs, jobs to get money, and money to send our children to school - the cycle that never ends and never seems to satisfy.  We are invited to follow the Sycamore model -  investing in family and friendship, forging homes full of joy and creativity, and pursuing a personal relationship with God. These attributes represent the American dream far more accurately than the rat race in pursuit of wealth and financial success.  And it is that encapsulation of American ideals that has made this play so well loved by audiences for so long.

 

  The play is perhaps most familiar to audiences through the classic movie version starring Jimmy Stewart who plays Tony Kirby.  Just as the movie’s script took a few liberties with the original stage version, our play will follow the same path, making it a very family friendly show and heightening some of the most powerful themes at work in the original. We hope you are able to come out and enjoy our rendition of, You Can’t Take It With You.