KENNEBUNK — When the curtain rises on the Kennebunk High School theater group’s production of “You Can’t Take it With You” on Nov. 18, some special attendees will be watching from the first row.
At 7:30 p.m., the house lights will dim, the spotlight will illuminate the stage, and members of the KHS Class of 1953, who starred in the school’s first production of the play, will be watching closely.
Times have changed, but as director Valerie Kuhn Reid points out, the play itself is timeless.
Originally a Broadway production in 1936, “You Can’t Take it With You” won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1937, and the next year Frank Capra’s film adaptation won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.
With such an illustrious history, KHS’s 2010 incarnation is the latest in a long tradition. But it isn’t the Broadway and film history that has students excited about the performances.
“I think it’s going to be really interesting to see their reactions, and what they thought of the play,” said KHS student Olivia Hussey, about the Class of 1953. Hussey pointed out that the production will play as more of a period piece than it did in 1936; the presence of typewriters, for example, which were a standard writing implement in that long-ago decade, will give the play a historical tinge that speaks of cultural and technological changes in the intervening years.
Hussey said she’ll have the original cast in mind as she steps out into the spotlight. So will student Josh Nowell.
“I’ll be thinking, ”˜They’re out there. Let’s impress them,’” said Nowell.
“It’s going to inspire me to do better,” said performer Linda Harrison.
Ted Shields, a 1953 Kennebunk graduate who will be in attendance Thursday night, had fond remembrances of his involvement in the school’s original production. He also noted that societal changes and cultural evolution will inspire changes in this new telling of a classic story.
“I played the part of the butler,” said Shields. “Of course, in those days, I played in blackface. Nowadays, you can’t do that.”
Aside from advances in cultural enlightenment, Shields expects the story to play out in similar fashion. And it has brought him back to the days when he himself trod the boards.
“It was fun,” he recalled. “I got the part because I guess they thought I was a real ham. It was an interesting play. It was challenging, but it was fun.”
The play centers around two distinct families ”“ the eccentric but happy Sycamores and the high-powered, money-driven Kirbys ”“ who clash amidst their differing visions of the American Dream. Themes center around family unity, individual freedom and the pursuit of happiness amidst economic hardship, concepts that the cast and crew feel are still relevant.
Student Owen White said that each actor naturally brings his or her own spin to the roles they play, and expects his interpretation of his character to be different than that of his 1953 counterpart.
“A lot of things, we just decide on in terms of what their personalities are,” said White. “I want to see how they see things differently.”
Director Reid, who has been helping the cast iron out some of the kinks before opening night, wants the play to remain as faithful as possible to the spirit of the original.
“There have been a handful of things (that we’ve cut) that would just go over peoples’ heads, but most of it is intact,” she said during a rehearsal last week. “There are so many things that are different now, but so many things that are the same.”
The play will run from Nov. 18-20 in the KHS auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
Shields, training his memory on a similar run of shows from almost 60 years ago, said he’s looking forward to it.
“The kids at Kennebunk will probably be more talented than we were back then,” he said. “It’ll probably bring back memories.”
— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 319, or at jlagasse@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
