Samo's fall play, "You Can't Take it With You," debuts soon

On Friday, Nov. 8, the Samo theater program is performing their first showing of the fall play, “You Can’t Take It With You” in the Humanities Center. Samo students have come together with the help of theater teacher Kate Barraza, and after weeks of practicing lines, creating detailed sets and attending long rehearsals, are ready to show off the results of their hard work. Based on the 1983 film “You Can’t Take It With You,” the play is a comedy about a peculiar family with only one “normal” member, Alice Sycamore, played by Abby Johnson (’20). After meeting a love interest at work, Alice struggles to keep the bizarre habits and strange lifestyles of her family members under wraps. To make things more difficult, the Sycamores become the subject of a criminal investigation. As the two hour play progresses through Acts I and II, the audience watches Alice and her family work through conflicts surrounding everything from future in-laws to tax evasion.To put together the fall production, the cast and crew put in an enormous amount of planning, practice and dedication. In September, Barazza and stage manager Maya Lauer (’20) held auditions for the play. After the roles were assigned, scripts were given out and lines were memorized. Once the set and costumes were complete, all the pieces of the play were ready to be put together.  Samo’s fall play is always a smaller production than theater’s other shows. Because of this, the cast and crew faced some expected difficulties.“Because it’s such a small cast, being on top of our lines is pretty difficult. We all rely on each other since the main characters have so many lines between each other. So I think memorizing lines has definitely been one of the hardest, most difficult things for our cast to do,” Johnson said.However, Natalie Krenik (’20) who plays Penny Sycamore, recognizes the benefits of working with a smaller cast. “It’s more intimate [in the humanities center compared to Barnum Hall] and you get more feedback from the audience. I think it’s just overall better for the fall play, and we usually always sell out tickets!” Krenik said. ‘You Can’t Take It With You” debuts on Nov. 8, with a final matinee showing on Nov. 16. Performances occur on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and limited tickets are currently available on the theatre website.“[The audience] should be ready to see some hilarious off-beat moments, strong character development and interaction, fabulous costumes, loud noises, kissing, a beautiful set, wrestling and a snake.” Barraza said.