“You Can't Take It with You,” November 18 through 21

Thursday, November 18, through Sunday, November 21

Playcrafters Barn Theatre, 4950 35th Avenue, Moline IL

One of the most beloved and enduring comedies in American-theatre history enjoys a November 18 through 21 staging when Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre presents You Can't Take It with You, the zany 1936 comedy by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart that won the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award as recently as 2014, with its beloved film version a Jimmy Stewart favorite that received the Academy Award for Best Picture.

As You Can't Take It with You opens, Grandpa Vanderhof and his family, the Sycamores, have for many years been happily living their wacky New York lives in his house by Columbia University. This family, and the hangers-on who have joined their family, are a madcap group of eccentrics, marching to the beat of their own drums with pride and joy. Their hobbies include collecting snakes, building fireworks in the basement, writing myriad plays that never get published, and taking ballet lessons, and things such as stress, jobs, and paying taxes to the government are solely for other people. But when practical young Alice Sycamore becomes engaged to her company’s vice president Tony Kirby, the Vanderhof/Sycamore clan must straighten up to meet the new in-laws. Disaster ensues, however, when the Kirbys arrive and, despite everyone's best-laid plans, they see Alice’s family in all of its crazy glory. With its timeless themes of family acceptance and love (possibly) conquering all, You Can’t Take It With You is a madcap, idealistic comedy that reinforces the idea that you can only live life to the fullest by doing the things that make you happy.

Vicki Deusinger, who staged the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's presentation of You Can't Take It with You in 2005, also serves as the helmer of Playcrafters' 2021 version, her area credits also including roles in the Moline theatre's See How They Run and Richmond Hill's Flowers for Algernon. Grandpa is portrayed by Steve Trainor, familiar from recent roles in Playcrafters' On Golden Pond and Quad City Music Guild's Little Women: The Musical, while the show's young lovers Alice and Tony are respectively played by Andrew Derbyshire and Kady Patterson.

Also appearing amongst Deusinger's massive ensemble are Abby Bastian, Bill Bates, Greg Braid, Spiro Bruskas, Guy Cabell, Vera Fornander, Kathy Graham, Emily Houdyshell, Kevin Keck, Nathan Lundburg, Carla Stevens, Noah Stivers, and Kermit Thomas, with local favorites Scott and Melita Tunnicliff as Mr. and Mrs Kirby. And with Jaclyn Marta serving as stage manager, additional members of You Can't Take It with You's creative team include producer Yvonne Siddique, lighting designer Jennifer Kingry, sound designer Alexander Richardson, props designer Marcia Templeton, costume designer Erin Dunn, board operators Don Faust and Jim Strauss, and poster designer Katie Newport.

You Can't Take It with You runs at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre November 18 through 21, with performances Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Admission is $13-15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)762-0330 and visiting Playcrafters.com.