Meet the Sycamores – a madcap clan who sets the bar for eccentricity. When Alice brings her high society fiancé home to meet the parents, fireworks (figuratively and literally) nearly bring the house down. Despite their zany antics and unconventional ways, this tight-knit family offers hope that love and laughter lead to happiness, even in the hardest of times.

One of the most popular and successful comedies in American theatre, this Pulitzer Prize-winning, Depression-era classic has a timeless appeal.

at Northlight Theatre
9501 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie, IL 60077

REVIEW

You Can’t Take It With You a delight at Northlight

3 1/2 STARS

DAILY HERALD
By SCOTT C. MORGAN

 

You Can’t Take It With You has endured through the decades, and Northlight Theatre’s hilarious revival in Skokie shows why.

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1936 comedy is chock-full of lovably eccentric characters who would easily fit into any modern-day TV sitcom. Also still relevant are the show’s heartwarming messages about family, creativity and the precious brevity of life.

 

Director Devon De Mayo’s sometimes unconventional casting makes Northlight’s production a delight throughout. Anyone familiar with the play through amateur productions will marvel at how much better professionals can be at finessing and consistently delivering the comic material to prod audiences into gales of laughter.

 

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REVIEW

You Can’t Take It With You at Northlight Theatre/Review

READER RECOMMENDED

CHICAGO READER
By SUZANNE SCANLON

 

Even if it’s nostalgia that helps keep the play alive, this Northlight Theatre revival is a surprisingly fresh production, featuring a huge cast of characters whose various eccentricities are orchestrated with elegance by Devon de Mayo. “You can’t take it with you,” the patriarch of the Sycamores reminds his counterpart Anthony P. Kirby, a wealthy Wall Street stiff, and while sure, it’s cliched, it’s not overstated. And from dance-obsessed Essie (Joanne Dubach) to painter-turned-playwright Penelope Sycamore (Penny Slusher) to Boris Kolenkhov (Sean Fortunato), the Russian ballet master, there isn’t an actor here who doesn’t delight.

 

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REVIEW

Northlight revives You Can’t Take It With You with gusto

4 STARS

EXAMINER.COM
By JODIE JACOBS

 

A funny thing happens on the way to the second act of You Can’t Take It With You, now at Northlight Theatre through Dec. 13, 2015.

 

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s comedy about the nutty Vanderhoff-Sycamore family during the Great Depression at first seems dated. Certainly in theater terms it’s a very old “chestnut.”

 

Then, when Wilber Henderson, an Internal Revenue agent explains to Grandpa Vanderhoff that he has to pay income tax to pay for the President, Supreme Court and Congress, you hear Grandpa say “Not with my money.”

 

Hmm. It sounds familiar to some sentiments still expressed in the 21st century …

 

Maybe this comedy which took the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1938, really should be looked at again. Fortunately, Northlight Theatre brings the play back to life with fine direction by Devon de Mayo and outstanding actors.

 

 

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REVIEW

You Can’t Take It With You review – A fun and thoughtful show

SPLASH MAGAZINE
By JESSIE BOND

 

 

Continuing its 41st season, Northlight Theatre presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy You Can’t Take It With You, directed by Devon de Mayo.  Quirky and touching, this story of the wacky Sycamore family’s attempts to connect with the straight-laced Kirbys is both entertaining and meaningful.

 

You Can’t Take It With You is absolutely an ensemble show, and Northlight has chosen an excellent ensemble for its purposes. Highlights among the actors include Joanne Dubach, who plays absentminded aspiring dancer Essie with a blend of sincerity, sweetness, and awkward charm that makes her a delight to watch. Ericka Ratcliff and Samuel Robertson, who play Rheba and Donald, respectively, bring a vibrant and engaging dynamic to their characters’ relationship and to the stage in general. Finally, John Judd must be complimented for his masterful portrayal of family patriarch Martin Vanderhof, whose clever antics to avoid the IRS are at the comedic heart of the play and whose soft-spoken discussion about the purpose of life with Mr. Kirby at the end of the show holds the play’s philosophical center.

 

 

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PREVIEW

Enthusiasm of eccentric Sycamore clan hard to resist

EVANSTON REVIEW
By CATEY SULLIVAN

 

When Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman penned You Can’t Take It With You, they came up with a plot that paved the way for everything from The Addams Family to My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Take a family of eccentrics and insert a “normal” group in their midst. And make sure that if the eccentrics fail to pass muster with the normals, dire consequences will ensue.

 

For the Pulitzer Prize-winning, 1936 drama You Can’t Take it With You, the loveable crazy people are all members of the Sycamore family. When daughter Alice (Lucy Carapetyan) brings home her buttoned-up boyfriend (Bernie Balbot) and his snooty high society parents (Patrick Clear, Jennifer Avery) for dinner, the evening explodes out of control. Alice wants to impress her future in-laws with her suitability, but Alice’s family isn’t exactly a bastion of Wasp propriety.

 

Opening this week at Skokie’s Northlight Theatre, You Can’t Take it With You is a rom-com that celebrates not just the young lovebirds but also the zany, individualistic Sycamore clan.

 

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PREVIEW

Winter cultural preview – The upcoming season’s must-see theater

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
By ANNE SPISELMAN

 

You Can’t Take It With You: Eccentric doesn’t begin to describe the extended family in George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1937 Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, and with an all-star cast that includes Brad Armacost, John Judd, Hollis Resnik and Sean Fortunato, their antics should be a hoot. If you’ve never seen this comedy, expect a snake-keeping patriarch who hasn’t ever paid his income taxes, a tinkerer who makes fireworks in the basement, a candymaker who dreams of being a ballerina and, the only “normal” one, a young woman whose romance is in jeopardy. That’s not to mention the tax investigator and cops who suspect a terrorist plot.

 

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Cast

brad-armacost
Brad Armacost

Paul Sycamore

Brad returns to Northlight (Benefactors, A Life) and is an Artistic Associate with Irish Theatre of Chicago (2014 Jeff Award – Ensemble, Seafarer, as well as nominations for The Weirand Moon for the Misbegotten). Elsewhere in Chicago: Steppenwolf (Jeff Award – Faith Healer), Goodman, Next (Jeff Award – Are You Now…) and Chicago Shakespeare (Jeff Award – Madness of King George). He is also part of Provision’s ensemble, receiving Jeff nominations for his work in A Christmas Carol, CS Lewis, Onstage and Shadowlands. His television credits include Empire, Chicago Fire, Mind Games, Missing Persons, The Untouchables and Early Edition. Film credits: Warren, The Company, Barbershop 2,Repetition, Eight Men Out and Backwoods. He guest narrates with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

jenny-avery
Jenny Avery

Miriam Kirby

Jenny is thrilled to be making her Northlight debut. Jenny has worked at a number of theaters in Chicago, including Steppenwolf (Annie Bosch is Missing), Writers (Puppetmaster of Wodz,Duchess of Malfi), Victory Gardens (Four Places, Class Dismissed), Next (Compulsion, Welcome Home Jenny Sutter, Maple and Vine, Long Christmas Ride Home), Chicago Dramatists (Feast), American Theater Company (American Dead, Living Out), About Face (Cloud 9, Undone), Collaboraction (Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild, Apocalyptic Butterflies) and Strawdog (Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Aristocrats). She will be seen this winter in Richard III at Gift.

bernie-balbot
Bernie Balbot

Tony Kirby

Chicago credits include: She Loves Me (Writers); A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Parks, Short Shakespeare! Macbeth (Chicago Shakespeare); We Are Proud to Present a Presentation… (Victory Gardens); Rich and Famous (Jackalope); The Original Grease, Yeast Nation, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play (American Theater Company) and A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane). Regional credits include: American Conservatory, Asolo Repertory, Milwaukee Repertory, Utah Shakespeare, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre and Hangar Theatre. TV/Film: Chicago Fire, Warrior. Bernie is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama and NTI’s Moscow Art Theatre Program. Up next:Of Mice and Men at Milwaukee Repertory/Arizona Theatre Company.

lucy-carapetyan
Lucy Carapetyan

Alice Sycamore

Lucy previously appeared at Northlight in You Can’t Take It With You. Some favorite Chicago credits include The Writer, First Love is the Revolution, Earthquakes in London, Linda (Steep Theatre, where she’s an ensemble member), Right To Be Forgotten and Nice Girl (Raven), Animal Farm (Steppenwolf). Lucy works as a motion capture actor for Injustice and Mortal Kombat video games. TV: Fargo season 4, Somebody SomewhereChicago FireProven Innocent. Film: Brooklyn 45Departing Seniors. She is represented by Paonessa Talent.

patrick-clear
Patrick Clear

Anthony Kirby

Patrick is delighted to return to Northlight where he was seen as Mr. Kirby in last season’s You Can’t Take It With You. His other Northlight appearances include The Mousetrap, The Miser, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and Pride and Prejudice. He has appeared in more than 60 productions with Chicago area theatres including the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, Writers and Remy Bumppo. His regional credits include appearances at Hartford Stage, the Asolo Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Arena Stage, the Guthrie Theater, American Shakespeare Theatre, Centerstage, the Huntington Theatre and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. He appeared on Broadway in Noises Off and Hollywood Arms. Film and Television credits include Empire, The Dark Knight, Chicago PD, Boss, The Untouchables and Early Edition.

sean-fortunato
Sean Fortunato

Boris Kolenkhov

Sean was recently seen in Othello (Court) and Talley’s Folly (Peninsula Players). Other credits include Miss Trunchbull in Matilda (Drury Lane)Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Writers), and work at Chicago Shakespeare, Goodman, Theatre at the Center, Timeline, Marriott, Remy Bumppo, About Face, First Folio, Next, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Intiman (WA), Old Globe (CA), and The Duke on 42nd (NY). Film: The Merry Gentleman directed by Michael Keaton. TV: Antoon Dumini in Fargo (FX), Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Chicago Fire (NBC). Sean has received eight Joseph Jefferson nominations and an After Dark Award. Next: Starbuck in The Rainmaker at Peninsula Players.

kyoydell-galima
Kroydell Galima

G-Man 3

Kroydell is happy to be working with Northlight for the first time. He has worked all over Chicago’s stages including TimeLine’s Concerning Strange Devices From the Distant West directed by Lisa Portes, Silk Road’s The Hundred Flowers Project directed by Joanie Schultz, Adventure Stage Chicago, Victory Gardens, understudied for Lookingglass’s world premiere of Keith Huff’s Big Lake Big City directed by David Schwimmer and most recently closed the Chicago premiere of In Love and Warcraft with Halcyon. He has also co-starred in an episode of Chicago Fire. He holds a B.F.A in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University.

tom-hickey
Tom Hickey

Wilbur Henderson/G-Man 1

Tom is pleased to be working with Northlight for the first time. He has been a member of Strawdog Theatre Company for a loooong time, appearing in over two dozen productions including Fail/Safe, Conquest of the South Pole, Master and Margarita, Uncle Vanya, Cherry Orchard, Aristocrats, Detective Story and Julius Caesar. Other shows in Chicago include Macbeth (Artistic Home), Seminar (Haven), Killer Angels (Lifeline), Dirty (Gift), North Plan (Theatre Wit and Steppenwolf First Look), Pillowman (RedTwist) and Thieves Like Us (House). Television credits: Underemployed,Chicago PD, Betrayal and Crisis.

john-judd
John Judd

Martin Vanderhof

John returns to Northlight where he appeared in The Cripple of Inishmaan andThe Lieutenant of Innishmore. Chicago credits include: Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Writers, Court, Lookingglass, Shattered Globe, A Red Orchid, About Face, Next, Profiles, Victory Gardens, Fox Theatricals, The Journeymen and Irish Repertory of Chicago. New York: BAM, Barrow Street and 59E59. Regional and international: Actors Theatre Of Louisville, Philadelphia Theatre Company, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Old Globe (San Diego), McCarter (Princeton), Huntington (Boston), Williamstown Theatre Festival, Westport Country Playhouse, BeaverCreek Theatre Festival and Town Hall Theatre (Galway, Ireland). Film credits include: Public Enemies, Batman Begins, Mr. 3000, Road to Perdition, Ride with the Devil, Losing Isaiah and Hoffa. TV credits include: Chicago PD, Boss, Chicago Code, Prison Break,ER and Early Edition.

andy-nagraj
Andy Nagraj

Ed Carmichael

Andy is thrilled to be making his debut at Northlight. A recent Chicago transplant, his regional stage credits include Milwaukee Repertory, Court, Silk Road Rising, TimeLine and the Utah, Texas, Ohio and Virginia Shakespeare Festivals. TV: Chicago Fire. Andy is also the co-author of the musical comedy Murphy’s Law, which will receive its world premiere this spring at Pittsburgh’s Strand Theatre, and he has served on the theatre faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.

keith-neagle
Keith Neagle

Mr. De Pinna

Keith returns to Northlight after appearing last season in The Mousetrap. An ensemble member with Gift, he will appear in their upcoming production of Richard III. Previous productions with Gift include Othello and Night and Her Stars. Other recent Chicago credits include: Harry & the Thief, Breaks & Bikes, Girl You Know It’s True, punkplay, Fracture/Mechanics, Arrangements andLipstick Traces (Pavement Group); The Birds (Griffin); Travesties (Remy Bumppo); Seminar (Haven);Orange Flower Water (Interrobang); Sweet Confinement (SiNNERMAN); We Live Here and Yes, This Really Happened to Me (Theatre Seven); Sweet Bird of Youth (Artistic Home); The Pigeons (Walkabout); and Everything Freezes: another winter’s tale (Sideshow). Keith is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the School at Steppenwolf, and is represented by Actors Talent Group.

colm-oreilly
Colm O'Reilly

G-Man 2

Colm is a company member of Theater Oobleck, with whom he’s appeared in Song About Himself, There is a Happiness that Morning Is (NYC and Chicago), An Apology for the Course & Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, The Strangerer (NYC and Chicago), Letter Purloined, The Hunchback Variations and Spirits to Enforce. Other credits include Sweet Bird of Youth (Goodman); Trevor (A Red Orchid); Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Steppenwolf);Elevator Tours (Barrie Cole); Still in Play, The Caretaker, Waiting for Godot, Love Horse (Curious Theatre Branch); The Cabinet (Redmoon). He also played Stanislavski #1 in Mickle Maher’s An Actor Prepares at the University of Chicago. He is the recipient of 3 Orgie Theater Awards.

ericka-ratcliff
Ericka Ratcliff

Rheba

Credits include: Marie Antoinette (Steppenwolf); Black Diamond: The Year the Locusts Have Eaten, Around the World in 80 Days, Peter Pan A Play (Lookingglass); The Nutcracker,Rose and the Rime (House); Court Martial at Fort Devens (Victory Gardens); Sketchbook (Collaboraction); Ruined (Mixed Blood); Raisin in the Sun (Milwaukee Repertory); Seven Guitars (Pittsburgh Playwrights); Funk It Up About Nothin and Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare); Stickfly, African Company Presents Richard III, Talented Tenth, The Colored Museum, 365 Plays/365 Days and Bulrusher with Congo Square, where she is also an ensemble member. She is a graduate of The Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University.

hollis-resnik
Hollis Resnik

Gay Wellington/Grand Duchess Olga Katrina

Northlight: City on the Make, The Marriage of Figaro, Enter the Guardsman, The Immigrant, Grey Gardens, You Can’t Take It With You. Chicago: The Taming of the Shrew, Follies (Chicago Shakespeare); Candide, A Little Night Music (Goodman); productions with Court, Marriott Theatre, Apollo Theater Chicago, and Ravinia Festival. Regional: The Glass Menagerie, End of the Rainbow (Milwaukee Repertory Theater); The Light in the Piazza (Arena Stage); Grey Gardens (Philadelphia Theatre Company); productions with Shakespeare Theatre Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company. Tours: Les Misérables, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mother Superior in Sister Act. Awards: Twelve Joseph Jefferson Awards, Helen Hayes Award, two Sarah Siddons Awards, Lunt Fontaine Fellowship 2012

samuel-roberson
Samuel Roberson

Donald

Samuel is the Artistic Director of Congo Square and a Howard University alum. He is the recipient of a 3Arts Award and is a TCG Young Leader of Color. Roberson most recently directed Twisted Melodies at Congo Square. Other directing credits include The Last Cadillac and The Last Hand. He also assisted on Bulrusher and Twelve Angry Men. Chicago acting credits include: Samuel J and K (Steppenwolf), Civil War Christmas (Northlight), The Colored Museum and Sanctified (Congo Square),Living Green and The Lost Boys of Sudan (Victory Gardens) and The Ballad of Emmett Till (Goodman). Other acting credits: Penumbra, Children’s Theatre Company, Pillsbury House, Illusion, Imagination Stage, Source and Studio. He has taught with Victory Gardens, Congo Square, Steppenwolf, American Theatre Company, 16th Street and Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis.

penny-slusher
Penny Slusher

Penelope Sycamore

Penny last appeared at Northlight in Into the Breeches!. Other Northlight productions include By the Water, You Can’t Take It With You, Chapatti, Sense & Sensibility and A Life. Chicago credits include: Sweet Bird of Youth (Goodman); Uncle Vanya (After Dark Award), The Importance of Being Earnest, James Joyce’s “The Dead” (Court); Old Glory, Another Part of the Forest (Jeff Award), Bus Stop, The Subject Was Roses (Writers). Regional: Silent Sky, A Murder is Announced, Chapatti, The Hollow (Peninsula Players); My Fair Lady (Asolo Repertory); Sense & Sensibility (Actors Theatre of Louisville and Saint Louis Repertory). International Theatre: Chapatti and Stella & Lou (Northlight at Galway International Arts Festival, Ireland), August: Osage County (Steppenwolf at Sydney Theatre, Australia). Film: Virginia, Meet the Browns, Grace is Gone. Television: The Connie Banks Show.

Production Team

Devon De Mayo

Director

Devon is thrilled to return to Northlight after directing Lost in Yonkers and formerly serving as the theatre’s Director of Education. Most recently, Devon worked as the Resident Director under Stephen Daldry on the Tony-winning Broadway production of The Audience. Directing credits: Jet Black Chevrolet (side project); Compulsion and Everything is Illuminated (Next);An Actor Prepares (Logan Center); Roadkill Confidential, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, Clouds (Dog & Pony); Infiltrating Bounce (Luminaria, San Antonio); and 52 (Canal Café, London). Directing & devising credits: Guerra: A Clown Play (performances in Chicago, New York, Albuquerque, Madrid, Bogota, and Mexico City); The Whole World is Watching, As Told by the Vivian Girls(Dog & Pony), and The Twins Would Like to Say (Dog & Pony, Steppenwolf Garage Rep). She is the co-artistic director of Dog & Pony Theatre and received her MFA from Middlesex University in London.

Courtney O'Neill

Scenic Design

Izumi Inaba

Costume Design

Northlight: The Mousetrap, You Can’t Take It With You, Charm, Faceless, The Mother of the Maid, Mansfield Park, How A Boy FallsRegional: Dishwasher Dreams (Writers Theatre, Hartford Stage), Fahrenheit 451 (Indiana Repartory Theatre); Million Dollar Quartet Christmas (Evan Bernardin Productions, The Phoenix Theatre Company); Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf Theatre); King of The Yees (Goodman Theatre, Kirk Douglas Theatre); Cambodian Rock Band (Victory Gardens Theater, City Theatre Company, Merrimack Repertory); The Who And The What (Milwaukee Rep); Animal Farm (Milwaukee Rep, Baltimore Center Stage); Other credits: Animal Farm, The Crucible, We Are Proud To Present…, The Constellations, A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); An Issue Of Blood, The House That Will Not Stand, A Wonder In My Soul, If I Forget (Victory Gardens Theater)Smart People, A Doll’s House (Writers Theatre); Harvey, Titanic (Court Theatre). Affiliations: United Scenic Artists USA-829. Educa­tion: M.F.A. in Stage Design, Northwestern University.

Heather Gilbert

Lighting Design

Heather returns to Northlight where she previously designed You Can’t Take It With You, Mothers and Sons and Faceless. Ms. Gilbert’s lighting designs have been seen on many Chicago stages including Hypocrites, Goodman, Court, Steppenwolf, Steep, Victory Gardens, Remy Bumppo, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Writers, Timeline, About Face and countless storefronts. Regional credits include Oregon Shakespeare, American Repertory, Kansas City Repertory, Milwaukee Repertory, Huntington, Williamstown, Alley, Berkeley Repertory and Actors Theatre of Louisville. International credits include Almeida in London and Singapore Repertory. Heather was a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Grant and the 3Arts Award. Heather serves as the Head of Lighting Design at Columbia College Chicago, and received her MFA at the Theatre School at DePaul. She is a member of The Hypocrites community.

Kevin O'Donnell

Original Music and Sound Design

Kevin is thrilled be back at Northlight where previous credits include Cry It OutThe Legend of Georgia McBride, Miss Bennet, You Can’t Take it With YouThe Lady with All the Answers, and Inherit the Wind.  As a composer and sound designer he has received 10 Jeff Awards (20 nominations), and is a company member with The House Theatre.  Locally he has worked with Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Lookingglass, Court, and many others. Regionally: The Pasadena Playhouse, The Southern Rep, Le Petite Theatre, The Seattle Rep, The Signature Theatre, The Olney Theatre Center, The Adrienne Arscht Center of Miami, and others.  He is also a drummer.

Kimberly Ann McCann

Stage Manager

Kimberly is excited to be returning to Northlight Theatre. Her Northlight credits include Book of WillMiss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, You Can’t Take it With You and Civil War Christmas. Chicago credits: Having Our SayA View from the Bridge, Objects in the MirrorGloria, and Wonderful Town (Goodman) and Million Dollar Quartet. Broadway: Curtains. Off-Broadway credits: Bill W. and Dr. BobHow to Save the WorldJohn Ferguson. Regional: Tuacahn Center for the Arts, Skylight Music Theatre, and Milwaukee Rep. Other credits include Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and numerous productions at The Juilliard School. Kimberly is a proud member of Actors Equity.