University of Delaware’s Resident Ensemble Players (REP) opens the second show of its season with a bang when the delightfully eccentric and rule-defying Sycamore family is introduced to the high society parents of their daughter’s fiancé in the hilarious and heartwarming comedy You Can’t Take It With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

From ballet pirouettes and xylophone solos to snake collecting and basement pyrotechnics, this madcap yet tight-knit family offers proof that love and laughter can lead to happiness, even in the hardest of times.

“You Can’t Take It With You, which is one of very few comedies to have won a Pulitzer Prize, is a rare play,” says Sanford Robbins, producing artistic director of the REP and director of the production. “It’s more than just humorous – it is uplifting. Through its humor and unique charm, it strikes at something very deep about families.  It lovingly reveals the individualism and commitment to self-expression that lie at the heart of the American character.

“I think that Kaufman and Hart are telling us that we must not allow the circumstances of the world to diminish our self-expression and joy. The value of the Sycamore family’s approach to life is that it serves as a source of hope and vigor as we deal with harsh life realities. We must be able to proceed with joy and laughter as we traverse difficult times, and You Can’t Take It With You reminds us that we can.”

Performances run through Sunday, Oct. 8, in the Thompson Theatre at the University’s Roselle Center for the Arts in Newark. Tickets can be purchased online at www.rep.udel.edu, by phone at 302-831-2204 or in person at the REP box office in the Roselle Center for the Arts. You Can’t Take It With You runs approximately two hours and fifteen minutes.

REP productions are sponsored in part by the Delaware Division of the Arts.

Special events

Lively question-and-answer sessions with the production’s cast will take place after the evening performances on Thursday, Sept. 28 and Friday, Oct. 6.

Free pre-performance prologues will take place beginning at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 8. On Sept. 30, a REP technical director will speak about the wildly detailed set for the production.  On Oct. 8, director Sanford Robbins will speak about the play and the details involved in juggling all the creative elements of You Can’t Take It With You. 

Also on stage now

The Mountaintop, a powerful and poetic re-imagination of Dr. Martin Luther King’s final night on Earth performs through Oct. 8 in the Studio Theatre in the Roselle Center for the Arts.  On the rainy night of April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, King returns to the Lorraine Motel, exhausted from yet another rally and speech addressing issues of economic justice. His requested room service coffee appears in the hands of Camae, a feisty and mysterious maid with a sassy sense of humor and some surprising news that forces King to look at his life and confront his hopes, dreams, and destiny. 

Tickets and information can be found at www.rep.udel.edu.

About the REP 

The Resident Ensemble Players (REP) is a professional theatre company located at the University of Delaware. The REP’s mission is to engage audiences throughout the tri-state region with frequent productions of outstanding classic, modern, and contemporary plays performed in a wide variety of styles that celebrate and demonstrate the range and breadth of each resident actor in this ensemble of nationally respected stage actors who have been trained in the same way.

The REP is committed to create future audiences for live theatre by offering its productions at low prices that enable and encourage the attendance of everyone in the region, regardless of income.