theatre review
UT does it again
‘‘You Can’t Take It With You”
University Theatre
April 9
Despite its title, the University Theatre’s
production of "You Can’t Take It With You" tries
hard to ensure that the audience takes the show’s
message with them as they leave
Set in the late 1930s, the comedy by George
Kaufman and Moss Hart revolves around a theme
still relevant to modern audiences Do your own
thing Live your life the way you want Don 't worry
about the Joneses "
The characters of "Take it With You,” or most
of them, certainly practice what they preach
Penelope Sycamore (Cynthia Blaise) is a
middle-aged mother of two who uses human
skulls as candy dishes and composes plays, all
unfinished, because a typewriter was mistakenly
delivered to the Sycamore home years ago Her
husband Paul (Grant Waldron) invents fireworks
for a living and plays with an erector set in his
spare time It's not so much that he's entered his
second childhood, but that he never left his first
one Both Blaise and Waldron play their roles with
just the right combinations of parental love and
individual eccentricity
Their daughter Essie (Ellen Rice) and her
husband, Donald (Peter Strubel), make Mr and
Mrs Sycamore look like average citizens Essie
firmly believes that her dancing talents are close
to genius, and so plies and pirouettes her way
through life with a glazed, starry look in her eyes
Rice is excellent as the flighty Essie, endowing
her with childish charm Donald accompanies
Essie on his xylophone and prints everything from
calling cards to flyers proclaiming "Dynamite the
White House, just to see the black words on
white paper He doesn't really care what the
words say and later this causes the family a lot of
trouble and grief when the government finds
some of his posters Strubel works well as the
bumbling innocent
All of these characters live under the
J
patriarchal care and guidance of Grandpa Martin
Vanderhof (Kenneth Payne), an elderly gentle
man who dropped into nonconformity late in life
and now occupies his time attending university
commencement cermonies, spending time with
pet snakes and dodging IRS agents. His philo
sophy, "Life is pretty simple if you just relax”
seems to be the family motto. Payne gives
Grandpa a wonderful combination of wisdom and
spirit — he's the grandfather we'd all like to have.
That is, except for one family member,
daughter Alice (Enid Clark). She successfully
maneuvers between the "real world” of her job as
a secretary and the idyllic atmosphere at home,
until she falls in love with her boss' son, Tony
Kirby (Brian Marchington). Pulled between the
two worlds, Alice feels that her family stands in the
way of her happiness with Tony. Total chaos
erupts when the Kirbys come to dinner a night
early, the two families meet, clash and finally
resolve their differences
Overall, the production is nicely done Jerry
Williams' realistically busy set adds much to the
action with its screaming yellow walls and multiple
levels There are also several impressive
fireworks scenes which add spark (and smoke) to
the show
Other pluses include nice comic delivery by
Martha Sawhill as Rheba, the Sycamores' maid
and Pedro Garrido as Mr dePinna, an iceman
who once delivered to the Sycamores' home and
stayed
Still, there are a few difficulties With all of the
chaotic action onstage, lines often become lost in
the noise Timing is sometimes off, with actors not
waiting long enough for laughter to subside
before going on with the dialogue The produc
tion also suffers some pacing problems,
especially toward the end of Act III.
In spite of these problems, "You Can't Take It
With You" presents an evening of pleasant en
tertainment and smiles that stick around after the
curtain call
by brenda thomton
IFC overrides Wilkins’ veto
The Incidental Fee Committee
Tuesday overrode an ASUO
presidential veto and approved
seven resolutions
The IFC rejected the veto of
ASUO Pres Rich Wilkins cutting
$714 from the Foreign Students
Organization budget next year
because of a perceived du
plication of services between
the Iranian Student Association
and the Supporters of a Muslim
Student Society
The veto was unfair because
the basic nature of the Foreign
Students Organization is to
raise money, IFC member David
Gibson said
The SMSS restricts member
ship to only Iranian students
who agree with the democratic
principles of the group, Gibson
said The SMSS and the Iranian
Student Association are du
plicating services while the
Muslim Student Association,
which is religious and educa
tional in nature, has no such
conflicts, he added
Gibson said his concern with
funding the groups under the
Foreign Student Organization
umbrella was in their religious
nature
Foreign student programs are
restrictive by definition, IFC
chairer Karsten Rasmussen
said
The committee voted 6-0 with
one abstention to override the
veto, and unanimously
approved a footnote to the FSO
budget specifying that the
SMSS and Iranian Student
Association go through goal
hearings before either are
allowed to spend incidental
fees
In addition, the IFC approved
seven resolutions, some of
which are ASUO Executive
policies One allows the ASUO
Executive and <FC to reduce
program allocations if enroll
ment projections prove too
high, including ‘lump sum"
programs.
“If they do not, their alloca
tion for the following fiscal year
shall be reduced accordingly,”
reads the resolution
Other resolutions prohibit a
person from being paid for
working for two programs and
prohibit program members from
being paid more than the IFC
allocation The latter resolution
is intended to prevent program
directors from transferring
other program line item monies
to pay themselves, Rasmussen
said
UNIVERSITY THEATRE PRESENTS
KAUFMAN £ HURT'S CLASSIC COMEDY
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