In celebration of the UT Bicentennial, the Clarence Brown Theatre Company

presents the comedy You Can’t Take it With You with an “all-alumni”

cast.

Twelve of the19 cast members are UT alumni, and the remaining actors all

have long-standing histories with UT theatre. Director Robert Mashburn has

also enjoyed a long relationship with the Clarence Brown Company.

Zack Allen, UT Theatres marketing director and alumnus, said the cast

members returned from all over the country.

“It’s all in the family,” Allen said. “We were able to get people whose

strengths we already knew.”

You Can’t Take It With You is a comedy about the eccentric Sycamore

family. Every member of the family has an unusual agenda of his own.

Grandpa, for example, is an ex-Wall Street businessman who now makes

fireworks in the basement. On top of this, he is a “commencement addict,”

attending any graduation ceremony he can.

In contrast to Granpa is Alice, the “normal” member of the family. Her

relatives can’t understand why she holds a steady job.

“It is one of the most popular American plays in Europe,” Allen said. “The

message is ‘Follow your dreams, no matter how unconventional they may

be.'”

The play, which opened Sept. 12 and runs until Sept. 18, was written in the

’30s by George Kaufman and Moss Hart. Kaufman is known for his

collaboration with Edna Thurber on Stage Door time, and also

wrote the Marx Brothers classic A Night at the Opera.

Though this production is the department’s official Bicentennial event,

much more has happened this year in celebration of alumni, Allen said.

“We’ve had at least three alumni involved in each play since January,”

Allen said.

Allen said he believes this type of involvement helps to honor both UT

students and the history of theatre at the university.

“Though we have a large student attendance, we are trying to make a more

aggressive thrust toward student participation,” Allen said. “Theatre is

one discipline that crosses so many other disciplines- English, philosophy,

carpentry and even electrical engineering.”

Shows are at 8 p.m. nightly, except Mondays. Upcoming productions include

Cotton Patch Gospel, A Christmas Carol, The Grapes of

Wrath, and Dracula:Prince of the Dark..