Auditions for YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU and APPROPRIATE at Mesa Community College announced for August 21

Auditions - Wednesday August 21 @ 6:00 PM

Callbacks - Thursday August 22 @ 6:00 PM

Mesa Community College

MCC Theatre - Lobby

1833 W Southern Ave, Mesa, AZ, 85202

Auditions

Please come prepared with one 60 second monologue.

Our Stage Manager will contact you upon receiving your audition form submittal to schedule you for a 3 minute audition time slot

If you do not have a prepared monologue please come at 7:30pm on 8/22 and you will be seen

Callbacks

Be prepared to read from provided sides

If you were unable to attend the auditions on Wednesday please arrive before 6pm on Thursday and we will get you a time to be seen that day.

PLEASE NOTE - If you are cast you must sign up for the appropriate section of THP 201AA

Signup

Please complete the audition form using the button below.

SIGNUP HERE

Schedules

You Can't Take it With You

Rehearsals begin on August 26, 2024 with an initial company meeting that same day at 5pm

Tech begins September 25. There are six performances between October 4 and 12.

Synopsis

The family of Martin Vanderhof lives “just around the corner from Columbia University—but don’t go looking for it.” Grandpa, as Martin is more commonly known, is the paterfamilias of a large and extended family: His daughter, Penny, who fancies herself a romance novelist; her husband, Paul, an amateur fireworks expert; their daughter, Alice, an attractive and loving girl who is still embarrassed by her family’s eccentricities—which include a xylophone player/leftist leaflet printer, an untalented ballerina, a couple on relief, and a ballet master exiled from Soviet Russia. When Alice falls for her boss, Tony, a handsome scion of Wall Street, she fears that their two families—so unlike in manner, politics, and finances—will never come together. During a disastrous dinner party, Alice’s worst fears are confirmed. Her prospective in-laws are humiliated in a party game, fireworks explode in the basement, and the house is raided by the FBI. Frustrated and upset, Alice intends to run away to the country, until Grandpa and Co.—playing the role of Cupid—manage not only to bring the happy couple together, but to set Tony’s father straight about the true priorities in life. After all, why be obsessed with money? You can’t take it with you. . . .

You Can't Take it With You Character Breakdown

Penelope Sycamore

Usually goes by Penny, Penelope is the mother of Essie and Alice, wife of Paul, and daughter of Martin. She writes plays and paints as hobbies because it makes her happy, but is terrible at both. Penny is a loving mother and wife who is constantly concerned with the welfare of her family. Her main goal is to make sure everyone is happy, particularly her daughter Alice. She is a main character.

Essie Carmichael

Wife of Ed, daughter of Penny and Paul Sycamore, Granddaughter of Martin, sister of Alice. She is childlike. As a hobby she makes candy that Ed sells. Essie dreams of being a ballerina. She has spent 8 years studying with Boris Kolenkhov, but is a terrible dancer.

Rheba

The African-American maid and cook to the Sycamore family. She is treated almost like a part of the family. She is dating Donald. In the words of Mrs. Sycamore, "The two of them are really cute together, something like Porgy and Bess."

Paul Sycamore

Father of Essie and Alice, husband of Penny, son-in-law of Martin. He is a tinkerer who manufactures fireworks in the basement with the help of his assistant Mr. De Pinna. His hobby is playing with erector sets.

Mr. De Pinna

The ice man who came inside to speak to Paul eight years before, and never left. He helps Mr. Sycamore build fireworks, and moonlights as a model in Mrs. Sycamore's paintings.

Ed Carmichael

Husband of Essie, son-in-law of Paul and Penny. He is a xylophone player, and distributes Essie's candies. Ed is an amateur printer who prints anything that sounds 'catchy' to him. He prints up dinner menus for his family and communist pamphlets that he places in the boxes of Essie's candy. He also likes to make masks.

Donald Curry

The African-American boyfriend of Rheba, who seems to serve as volunteer handyman for the Sycamores.

Martin Vanderhof

Referred to mostly as Grandpa in the play. Father-in-law to Paul, father of Penny, grandfather of Alice and Essie. He is an eccentric happy old man who has never paid his income tax because he doesn't believe in it, as he feels that the government wouldn't know what to do with the money if he paid it. Once a very successful businessman, he left his job 35 years prior for no reason other than to just relax. He lives his life by the philosophy "don't do anything that you're not going to enjoy doing". He goes to circuses, commencements, throws darts, and collects stamps. He is the main character.

Alice Sycamore

Fiancée of Tony Kirby, daughter of Paul and Penny, granddaughter of Martin, sister of Essie. She is the only "normal" member of the extended family. She has an office job, and is rather embarrassed by the eccentricities of her family when she has Tony and his parents at her house, yet she still loves them. She tends to be a pessimist.

Wilbur C. Henderson

An employee of the IRS. He comes to collect the tax money owed by Grandpa, and can't understand why the latter won't pay income tax.

Tony Kirby

Fiancé of Alice, son of Mr. and Mrs. Kirby. He sees how, even though the Sycamores appear odd, they are really the perfect family because they love and care about each other. His own family is very proper and has many issues none of them will admit. He is vice president of Kirby and Co.

Boris Kolenkhov

A Russian who escaped to America shortly before the Russian Revolution. He is very concerned with world politics, and the deterioration of Russia. He is the ballet instructor of Essie, aware that she is untalented at dancing, but knows that she enjoys dancing so he keeps working with her. He admires the ancient Greeks and the Romans, questions society, and is interested in world affairs.

Gay Wellington

An actress whom Mrs. Sycamore meets on a bus and invites home to read one of her plays. She is an alcoholic, gets very drunk, and passes out shortly after arriving at the Sycamore's home.

Anthony W. Kirby

Husband of Mrs. Kirby, father of Tony. He is a very proper man who is president of Kirby and Co. and secretly despises his job. His hobby is raising expensive orchids. He is also a member of the Harvard Society, the Union Club, the National Geographic Society, and the Racquet Club.

Miriam Kirby

Wife of Mr. Kirby, mother of Tony. She is an extremely prim and proper woman and is horrified by the goings-on in the Sycamore household. Her hobby is spiritualism.

G-Man 1 (The Man), G-Man 2 (Jim), G-Man 3 (Mac)

Three agents who come to investigate Ed because of the communist origin of some of the 'catchy' quotes he printed and placed in Essie's candy boxes, such as "God is the State – the State is God" and "Dynamite the White House".

The Grand Duchess Olga Katrina

She was one of the Grand Duchesses of Russia before the Revolution, another being her sister, the Grand Duchess Natasha. Since then she has been forced to flee to America where she has found work as a waitress in Childs Restaurant. The rest of her family has had a similar fate, such as her Uncle Sergei, the Grand Duke, who is now an elevator operator. She loves to cook as a hobby.

Appropriate

Rehearsals begin on October 7, 2024 with an initial company meeting that same day at 5pm

Tech begins November 20. There are six performances between December 1 and 9.

Synopsis

Appropriate follows the dysfunctional Lafayette family as they return to a decaying plantation mansion in Arkansas to battle over their recently deceased father's inheritance. Soon after the discovery of a relic buried deep in the recess of their family's past, decades of resentment burst through centuries of historical sin.

Character Breakdown

Antoinette "Toni" Lafayette

The oldest sibling, late 40s/early 50s

Rhys Thurston

Toni's son, late teens

Beauregard "Bo" Lafayette

Toni's brother, late 40s/early 50s

Rachael Kramer-Lafayette

Bo's wife, late 40s

Cassidy "Cassie" Kramer-Lafayette

their daughter, early teens

Ainsley Kramer-Lafayette

Their son, a child

Francois "Franz" Lafayette

Brother of Toni and Bo, late 30s/early 40s

River Rayner

Franz's fiancee, early 20s

MCC Theatre & Film Arts practices and supports diverse, non-traditional casting.

Actors of all backgrounds and identities are encouraged to audition.