Waupaca students present 1930s romantic comedy
Meet the Sycamores, an odd family where everyone has interesting pastimes, never settling to serious work, in Waupaca High School’s upcoming all-school production of “You Can’t Take it With You.”
Show dates and times in the school’s Performing Arts Center are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14. General admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students and children and may be purchased at the school office or at the door one hour prior to showtime.
The play introduces audiences to the freethinking Sycamore family and the mayhem that arises after their daughter’s fiancé brings his prim and proper parents to dinner on the wrong night.
“The fun of this play is watching what each character loves to do,” WHS drama teacher and play director Monica Reeves said. “Grandpa collects snakes, attends graduation ceremonies and hasn’t paid an income tax in 24 years; Essie, who graces her family with her ballet moves, also makes chocolates; Ed, Essie’s husband, plays the xylophone and operates the printing press; Penelope, the family’s matriarch, writes plays and paints; and Paul, the dad, spends his time creating fireworks in the cellar.”
Written in 1937 and winning the Pulitzer Prize that year, the show is a popular choice for high schools, colleges and community theatres, according to Reeves.
“It’s a fun, 1930s romantic comedy that was also made into a movie starring Jimmy Stewart,” she said.
The case includes Dakota Marlega (Penelope Sycamore), Mackenzie Morey (Essie), Bailey Seefeldt (Rheba), Nate Schuler-Jones (Paul Sycamore), Isaac Wright (Mr. De Pinna), Nate Wachsmuth (Ed), Simon Baumgart (Donald), Joe Gill (Martin Vanderhof), Maddy Frank (Alice), Max Johnson and GP Consoli (Henderson), Nate Meihak (Tony Kirby), David Gall (Boris Kolenkhov), Brenna Oleson (Gay Wellington), Christian Bump (Mr. Kirby), Elle Miller (Mrs. Kirby), Kira Mielke (Olga), Sam Baumgart (The Man), Zach Balaskavits (Mac) and Richard Landvatter (Jim).
The technical crew includes Ethan Heisler, Sydni Sondrol, Anna Ryder, Courtney Olson, Rachael Brewer, Chance Bucholtz, Myra Buelow, Leilani Gunter, Laura Petersen, Kaitlyn Woltmann, Sandra Jorgenson, Kei Namiki and Rebecca Timm.