Zany family steps on stage

Theater troupe offers comedy

From the outside, the Sycamore household would look like a nuthouse.

Martin Vanderhof never has paid income tax because he doesn’t think the government knows what to do with the money. His daughter, Penny Sycamore, writes plays because it makes her happy but is terrible at it. Her husband, Paul Sycamore, makes fireworks in the basement. Their daughter, Essie Carmichael, dreams of being a ballerina but can’t dance.

These are just some of the people that make the Sycamores’ home a fun place to visit in the Rocky Mount Community Theatre production of “You Can’t Take it With You,” director David Nields said. The play will be at 8 p.m. Nov. 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 2 p.m. Nov. 22.

“The whole point of this family is that they are welcoming. No matter what your quirk is, no matter what choices you have made, they are just really supportive of each other. They love each other and they follow their dreams and their passions,” Nields said.

A host of wacky characters take center stage in the play, including an Internal Revenue Service agent, a Russian ballet instructor, a drunken actress and a former Russian grand duchess who works as a waitress, Nields said.

Things really get interesting when the other Sycamore daughter, Alice Sycamore, falls in love with her boss’s son, Tony Kirby, said Roberta Cashwell, who plays Penny Sycamore. When Tony brings his straight-laced parents to dinner on the wrong night to meet the Sycamores, all of Alice’s plans to hide her family’s eccentricities go out the window.

“It is that juxtaposition of what is supposed to be normal and what is supposed to be crazy. The further you get into it, crazy is sane and normal is crazy,” Cashwell said.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for seniors and students.

For details, call 972-1266.