You Can't Take It With You

You Can't Take It With You
by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman
Nov. 11-21, 2010
Mary Gray Munroe Theater

Following the success of "rock opera"RENT, Theater Emory continues its 2010-2011 season with Kaufman and Hart's comedy classic You Can't Take It With You. Along with Sam Shepard's Buried Child(Feb. 17-27, 2011), these plays comprise Theater Emory's season celebrating winners of the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Sitting down to discuss Theater Emory's latest production, John Ammerman, Artistic Director of Theater Emory, explains that the season was designed to showcase great accomplishments of American theater, to explore and examine "why they are brilliant, prize–winning plays." By choosing plays from different decades of the twentieth century (1930s, 1970s and 1980s–90s), Ammerman has cast a wide net and caught three uniquely significant American plays, each reflective of the world in which it was written, with important ideas for the world we know today.

Part of Ammerman's choice to direct You Can't Take It With You came from a desire to "expose students to the genius of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart," giants in their day, but little–known to younger audiences now. Ammerman also sees in the play a message essential for students and adults alike: the importance of youth and the spirit of individuality.

"We are constantly being reminded of faults and failures, constantly being reminded of who is supposed to be the best at everything," Ammerman explains, and "too many kids, for whatever reason, are not giving themselves enough credit for who they are." With the play's emphasis on individuality against external pressures, Ammerman hopes his young audience will take the message to heart. "This is a funny play with serious things to say," he says.

Although the play has plenty of gags to make the audience laugh, the real comedy comes from relationships between the characters, "how people behave in their interactions with one another." Watching life's familiar idiosyncrasies play out on stage makes us laugh; we recognize ourselves and our own relationships, though, in this case, we might like to fancy ourselves a little less eccentric than Kaufman and Hart's characters. "We are all human, and no matter what period we live in, we remain the same," chuckles Ammerman.

Theater Emory's production also features the exciting element of a live animal. The script calls for a cat to inhabit the living room where the play takes place, and Ammerman couldn't resist. "The cat is probably the most pampered of all the performers," he says, as the cast and crew care diligently for her, making her comfortable for her stage debut. "She's an animal, so you really don't know what to expect," Ammerman says; but he's not concerned about her running off — he's more worried that she'll steal the show. "Animals do what they're going to do. I'm kind of intrigued by that," he says. The audience will naturally be drawn to the cat's unpredictable movements: she's an element on stage almost entirely independent from the rest of the action, and that is certainly exciting for an audience to watch.

The play isn't all comedy, however. You Can't Take It With You is set in the 1930s during America's Great Depression, and the world of the play reflects the economic and social circumstances of the time, especially in regards to communist fears. "Politics, economy and social circumstances are very important to the play and these things are referenced a lot." Although the play seems to be insular, taking place inside a single house, "a number of things outside the house get brought in by visitors." Ammerman calls the house "a spiritual oasis from the world," but even this little oasis of eccentrics and artists can't escape the dire circumstances of the world around them.

Photo Credits
You Can't Take It With You by Ann Borden. L-R: Leah Dodell, Bart Hansard, Sophie Edwards, Widdie Turner, Josh Isaak
John Ammerman courtesy of artist

Edited by Nicholas Surbey
Arts Associate
Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts