A Pulitzer Prize-winning play is coming to Trinity Western University this spring.
With its enduring themes of love and family, You Can't Take It With You has been revived on Broadway five times and was adapted as a movie winning the Academy Award for Best Picture and Director in 1938. This spring, the popular play arrives at Trinity Western’s SAMC Theatre.
Shows run March 21 – April 1 at 7:30 p.m. (plus 2:00 p.m. matinees on Saturdays).
Written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart during the 1930s Great Depression era and enjoyed by audiences around the world, “You Can't Take It With You” inspires heart-warming emotions and raucous laughter while pointing to the lifelong sources of happiness in family and relationships.
The story begins with Grandpa Vanderhof, who left his business 35 years ago and never looked back. Head of the Sycamore household, he’s raised his family to live unabashedly as themselves, filling his home with love and happiness. When his granddaughter, Alice, brings home the son of a Wall Street tycoon, the household’s idiosyncrasies threaten to keep them apart. Chaos and hilarity reign as these two families, so unalike in every way, find new ways to come together.
Cast member Hope Evans, a Fort Langley resident and fourth-year English major, describes the play as being about family, “both biological and found,” adding, “Each member of the family has their unique passions and quirks, and everyone is welcomed and encouraged to be their truest self in the Sycamore household.”
The theme of chosen family is what resonates the most with student actor Lex Diersch, a third-year theatre major from Maple Ridge. “Chosen family is one of the most important things in my life and I don’t know where I’d be without these people and the love that they give.”
As the name of the play suggests, and as Aagaaz J.Sandhu, a third-year education major from Delta, observes, “This play is about following your passions and living a life that gives you personal joy rather than societies’ perspective on joy. This play also shows how family is not only defined by blood but also by love.”
Cast and Crew
Directed by Kerri Norris
Lighting Designer: Keagan Elrick
Costume/Set Dec: Jennifer Mamchur
Stage Manager: Grace Moore
Assistant Stage Manger: Connor Hogg
Lighting Board Op: Ruizi Lin
Interim Technical Director: Cathy Shields
Fight Director: Stephen Elcheshen
Assistant Hair and Make-up: Cayleigh Elcheshen
Starring: Jack Derrenbacker, Lex Diersch, Stephen Elcheshen, Hope Evans, Arman Hassannia, Leighton Hoffman, Sen Longkumer, Val Mihelic, Berke Mutaf, Cath de la Rambelje, Aagaaz Sandhu, Alex Walker, Sarah Grace Wiedenheft, Tahlia Wine, Madison Willoughby
Special Appearance by Cayleigh and Aeron Elcheshen
Produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois
Audience Advisory: theatrical fog and loud explosions
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About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is a global Christian liberal arts university. We are dedicated to equipping students to discover meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. Drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, seeking to unite faith and reason through teaching and scholarship, Trinity Western University is a degree-granting research institution offering liberal arts and sciences as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has four locations in Canada: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, and Ottawa. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Instagram @trinitywestern, Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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