“You can’t take it with you” – not money, not work, not unfulfilled dreams. Coming out of the worst economic crisis in America’s history the zany Sycamore family, and their seemingly endless gaggle of permanent guests, collide with the staid and moneyed Kirby family, brought together (of course) by the love of a Kirby son and a Sycamore daughter. But before you bring tissue for a Romeo and Juliet-style tragedy remember that Depression-weary America wanted laughter, and this play delivers laughs. The opening night audience thoroughly enjoyed the gags, in particular the explosive climax of Act 2.

What makes this play more than a joyful comedy, however, is the irrepressible character Grandpa Vanderhof. Grandpa serves as the morale anchor of the play and is given many of the best punch lines when not delivering soliloquy’ed life lessons. And Alice Sycamore represents every daughter or son who both loves her family but is mortified and embarrassed by their eccentric behavior. We can all relate to a time when our most loved family members made us want to crawl under a rock.

And more than any Dublin High production in recent memory “You Can’t Take it With You” requires perfect timing. There is rarely a moment when someone isn’t entering or exiting, and at times nearly the entire cast of 19 is on stage. The student actors made it look easy – and that’s only because of the many hours of planning, blocking, rehearsals and theatrical problem-solving that took place behind the scenes in the weeks leading up to opening night.

Dublin High Drama Director Bryant Hoex directed Dublin’s award-winning drama students in the DHS production (and, notably, Frank Capra directed the Academy Award-winning film version – Best Picture – 1938 - starring Lionel Barrymore and James Stewart).

The play continues Friday and Saturday at 7pm, and closes with a Sunday matinée at 2pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students. The production is appropriate for all ages and sponsors include Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop and OneDublin.org.

Related articles:

• Dublin High Spring Play – Off Book Week for You Can’t Take it With You
• Behind the Scenes at Dublin High Drama’s Spring Play “You Can’t Take it With You”
• Life Backstage – The Magic Behind The Curtain at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

While most of Dublin was enjoying St. Patrick’s Day festivities last Saturday, 21 members of the Dublin High School Drama Club were competing on the stage at the 2012 Ohlone College High School Theatre Festival. The annual two-day Ohlone College event attracts high schools and hundreds of students from across the Bay Area to compete in a diverse range of performing arts categories. The 21 Dublin High Drama Club students entered 19 performances in a wide range of performing arts categories, winning first place in one category, a judge’s award in a second and reaching the finals in five other categories. It’s a busy time for the Dublin High Drama Club, with the opening night of the Spring play “You Can’t Take it With You” just around the corner.

Awards:

• Chris Harral – First Place for an excerpt from “The Merchant of Venice”
• Emily Morehead – Judge’s Award for “Sweetheart’s Monologue”

Finalists:

• Nate Bennett for “Pieces of Life”
• Ryan McRee for “The Faculty Lounge”
• Alex Gregory for “Pink”
• Patrick Wallace and Danielle Moon “First Love” (Dance)
• Nicole Hamre and Emily Morehead for an excerpt from “Agnes of God”

Additional Dublin High School Drama Club competitors:

• Kristen Koury in “Sun Dried”
• Reed Sights in excerpt from “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• Sarah Finn in “La Ronde”
• Jessica Neideffer in an excerpt from “Queen Margaret”
• Kristyn Lue in “Rae’s Story”
• Clint Jackman in “Child of Mine” (original dramatic monologue)
• Alex Cappa and Melany Scannell in “Her Heart”
• Jessica Neideffer and Jennifer Strasser in “Traces of Memory”
• Lucas Hernandez, Reed Sights, and Sharanya Stanley in “Hypno-Monster”
• Sarah Finn and Clint Jackman in excerpt from “A Midsummer Nigh’s Dream”
• Patrick Wallace and Rachel Gregory in “In the Heights: Sunrise” (mini-musical)
• Ryan McRee, Ronil Bhatia, and Kristyn Lue in “Assassins: Unworthy of Your Love” (mini-musical)

Dublin High also landed a first place win at last year’s Ohlone College competition (read more…).

To give you an idea of what this competition is all about, here is a video produced by Ohlone College of last year’s event (the video includes an excerpt from Dublin High School Class of 2011 graduate Ashley Mason’s winning tap routine at 6:45 and Ashley accepting her trophy at 8:20):

Below are photos from the friends and family dry run held in Dublin High’s Little Theatre the night before the competition.

On directing:

On blocking:

On costuming:

Cast intros:

“You Can’t Take It With You” is by the same team that wrote “The Man Who Came To Dinner” (Moss Hart and George Kaufman). Dublin High had a successful run of “The Man Who Came To Dinner” in 2010 (read more…)

Mark your calendars – “You Can’t Take It With You” opens March 29 with performances continuing on March 30, 31 and April 1.

Cast:

• PENNY SYCAMORE:  Sarah Finn and Kristen Koury
• ALICE SYCAMORE:  Jessica Neideffer and Jennifer Strasser
• ESSIE CARMICHAEL:  Nicole Hamre and Annie McDonald
• GRANDPA:  Nate Bennett and Ryan McRee
• MR. KIRBY:   Ian Wilcox
• TONY KIRBY:  Patrick Wallace
• MRS. KIRBY:  Ashley Bruce and Anne Griffin
• PAUL SYCAMORE: Jon Blair and Lucas Hernandez
• ED CARMICHAEL:  Alex Gregory and Clint Jackman
• MR. DePINNA:  Grayson Phillips and Gillom Smith
• BORIS KOLENKHOV:  Cregan Sorvari and Jasmine Virk
• HENDERSON (IRS):  Kristyn Lue and Roberta Tyler
• RHEBA:  Cassidy Knight and Reed Sights
• DONALD:  Rahbar Khan
• GAY WELLINGTON: Hannah Keihl and Lauren Lovato
• DUCHESS OLGA: Maria Amirkhanian and Sara Vukojevic
• FEDERAL AGENTS:  Rachel Gregory, Melany Scannell, Makenna Elias

Director: Bryant Hoex

Stage Manager: Emily Morehead

Dublin High Drama Club One Acts 2012 - The Office

The Dublin High School Drama Club’s annual One Acts provide an opportunity for student directors to take control of play selection, casting, staging and of course directing fellow students (with the guidance of Dublin High Drama Director Bryant Hoex). The 2012 edition of the One Acts opened to an enthusiastic audience, with performances continuing Friday (7pm), Saturday (7pm) and Sunday (2pm).

The success of opening night was due, in part, to the clever selection of one act plays and musical excerpts. The show opened and closed with musical numbers from Title of Show (a musical about two writers writing a musical… about musicals). The choice of musical bookends to the One Acts provided the perfect opening and closing note to a series of plays that combined comedy and drama. Even the funniest selections had moments of drama and insight – most notably David Ives Variations on the Death of Trotsky – very funny yet ultimately melancholic. Making the absurdity of Trotsky work requires perfect timing and performances that never break character – both achieved on opening night.

The student actors played parts beyond their years – for a moment you no longer saw the performers as teenagers but as a middle-aged estranged couple in The Man Who Couldn’t Dance or a night shift doctor helping a mysteriously angelic patient who ultimately helps him in Night Visits or two bored to the extreme customer service employees in The Office.

The one exception to a night of interleaved comedy and drama was provided by the intense A Whole House Full of Babies - which dealt with the anguish of a young mother who had to give up her newborn baby for adoption. Most touching was John Cariani’s Her Heart from the play Almost, Maine which wrapped quirky comedy around the pain of death and loss.

The challenge of a short story or one act play is to effectively create memorable characters and a compelling story in just 10-12 minutes. There isn’t room for anything not central to the theme or story. The student directors who selected the material challenged themselves, the cast and the audience – to great effect.

If you are looking for an evening of entertainment that leaves you laughing, thinking and humming a tune or two on your drive home, then make your way to Dublin High’s Little Theatre this weekend to enjoy the 2012 Dublin High Drama Club One Acts. Ticket prices are $5 for students and $7 for adults, and the show is suitable for all ages. The program for the show is available here. TJ Florist and Gifts, OneDublin.org and Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop sponsored the production.

Dublin High Drama Club One Acts 2012 Opening Night Cast

Dublin High Drama Club One Acts 2012 Closing Night Cast

Dublin High School One Acts 2012 Student Directors

Almost, Maine; Directed by Nicole Hamre

• East: Alex Cappa
• Glory: Melany Scannell

A Whole House Full of Babies; Directed by Kristyn Lue

• Sheila: Ashley Bruce, Allie Caterina
• Reno: Annie McDonald, Jennifer Strasser

Night Visits; Directed by Nate Bennett

• Tom: Ronil Bhatia, Clint Jackman
• Emily: Jamella Cross, Makenna Elias
• Liz: Kayley Huff, Cassidy Knight

The Man Who Couldn’t Dance; Directed by Ryan McRee

• Eric: Lucas Hernandez, Patrick Wallace
• Gail: Kristen Koury, Jessica Neideffer

The Office; Directed by Emily Morehead

• Woman 1: Hannah Keihl, Madison Lattner
• Woman 2: Sharanya Stanley, Jasmine Virk

Variations of the Death of Trotsky; Directed by Sarah Finn

• Trotsky: Alex Gregory, Ian Wilcox
• Mrs. Trotsky: Lauren Lovato
• Ramon: Robby Khan, Cregan Sorvari

[Title of Show] - 2 musical numbers; Directed by Chris Harral

• Jeff: Ronil Bhatia
• Hunter: Patrick Wallace
• Heidi: Brooke Brunkhorst
• Susan: Rachel Gregory

• “The Office” by Kate Hoffower (Dublin High School Student Director: Emily Morehead)
• “Variations on the Death of Trotsky“ by David Ives (Dublin High School Student Director: Sarah Finn)
• “Night Visits” by Simon Fill (Dublin High School Student Director: Nate Bennett)
• “A Whole House Full of Babies” by Sean O’Connor (Dublin High School Student Director: Kristyn Lue)
• “Almost, Maine” by John Cariani (Dublin High School Student Director: Nicole Hamre)
• “The Man Who Couldn’t Dance” by Jason Katims (Dublin High School Student Director: Ryan McRee)
• Excerpts from the musical [Title of Show] by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell: “Untitled Opening Number” and “Nine People’s Favorite Thing” (Dublin High School Student Director: Chris Harral)

Dublin High’s always popular student-directed one-act plays provide students a unique opportunity to direct other students, while entertaining audiences with a wide-ranging variety of themes and styles.

Duke Orsino and Viola

Viola (disguised as Cesario, and twin to brother Sebastian) loves Duke Orsino, who in turn loves Olivia, who in turn loves Cesario (Viola in disguise). In due course (of course) the twins Cesario (Viola) and Sebastian interchange to the confusion of all. As Viola bemoans in Act II, Scene 2: “O time! thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me to untie!” Dublin High School’s Twelfth Night spins a tangled web of love and mischief, meticulously tied and then unravelled, with flair and comedic timing. And just for good measure, California’s faults entered the fray with a 3.8 magnitude earthquake during the performance (causing a few whispers in the audience, while the performers didn’t miss a beat).

For good measure (and excellent comedic relief), Feste (Olivia’s fool) and companions Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria play Malvolio for the fool (and cruelly so). Sound reminiscent of She’s the Man? Shakespeare’s comedy was the inspiration for the film. Add in swordplay, music, song and artful staging and you have a terrific evening of high school theatre. Actually, forget the “high school” qualifier – the opening night cast treated the full theatre to a wonderful experience.

“If music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.” And so the Dublin High Drama Club played on this Fall despite a compressed schedule that required auditions and casting to be completed during the first week of school, and rehearsals immediately following. The complex staging benefited from prior productions (most notably The Importance of Being Earnest and The Man Who Came to Dinner). Like any theatre company, veteran audience members can spot the props of performances past. Thanks to help from a Dublin High alumni, the show also benefited from enhanced lighting (with the number of lights used more than doubled vs. the 2010-11 season).

Most impressive of all was the swordplay – both spontaneous and natural – the performers throwing caution to the wind to great effect.

Wished you’d been there? You have three more chances – Twelfth Night continues Friday and Saturday at 7pm and closes Sunday with a matinée at 2pm. Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults. As with other Dublin High productions, double-casting is used for many parts providing more students an opportunity to experience the thrill of a live theatre performance.

The show bill is available here and cast list available here.

Malvolio Imprisoned and Taunted by Feste

Swordplay

Tricking Malvolio

Olivia and Cesario (Viola) Meet

Feste in the Closing Scene

Opening Night Curtain Call