UF will kick off its first production of the season Friday night with "You Can't Take It With You," a feel-good comedy about the wacky antics of the Sycamore family.
The Sycamores are true, free, fun and loving, said Filipe Valle Costa, an MFA theater student who plays Grandpa Martin Vanderhof.
Grandpa is the pillar of the family. He takes care of everyone. He's a very loving person, and is at the end of his life with no regrets, Costa said.
"It's wonderful to play the character," he said. "He's 75 years old and saying, ‘Don't worry, just do what you love to do and everything else will fall into place.' In so many ways I feel like the character is speaking to me."
Grandpa is the soul of the family, but Penny is the heart, said Stephanie Lynge, a theater graduate student who plays Penny Sycamore, a 50-year-old mother and a daughter of Grandpa.
As long as everyone else is happy, Penny is happy, she said.
Lynge found it technically difficult to get the quick pace of the lines right and to keep her positivity as high as her character demands but enjoys playing the young-spirited role.
"[Penny] finds the joy in all the little things in life," she said.
The Sycamores revel in their own weirdness, said Charlie Mitchell, UF professor and director of the production. They exist in a total state of acceptance, so every strange thing that happens in the family is OK.
The main conflict comes from Alice, Penny's daughter, being in love with Tony Kirby, a man from a wealthy Wall Street family. The families meet each other, and the Kirbys come on the wrong night. Instead of hiding the weird things the Sycamores do, like badly dancing around the house and playing the xylophone, they see it all.
"It's a sweet story, " Mitchell said. "It's really about ‘Can these two families come together?' This uptight Wall Street family and this house of free spirits."
Casting for the production of the play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman was done by the first Friday of the semester, and rehearsals began that evening.
The 19-member cast had a tighter rehearsal schedule because it's the first show of the season. It was only about four weeks long. The short schedule did not cause much problems and the cast works well with each other, Lynge said.
The audience will see their own family in the show, Costa said.
"It doesn't matter what your family is, and who your family is and how your family is," he said. "Certain parts of the show will translate to you. You will see yourself in it."
"You Can't Take It With You" shares a message to follow your heart and seek out what makes you happy.
"If you don't spend any time listening to your own heart, you're pretty much going to do whatever anyone around you tells you to do," Mitchell said.
As you learn later in the story, Tony hates working on Wall Street. He did it because his father works there. A lot of the characters share the same story; they use to do something they hated until one day they decided life is too short.
Audiences can expect a warm evening filled with laughter spent with a loving family, Lynge said.
"It teaches us some things that is good to remind us about these days, like take a breath, smell the coffee, it's not about the bottom line," she said.
Ticket prices for the public are $17 and $13 for students, senior citizens (55 and up), UF faculty and staff. Opening night for "You Can't Take It With You" is Friday at 7:30. It will run through Oct. 2.
