“You can’t take it with you” is a fall production that Cabrini is hosting starting on Thursday, Nov. 5.
The play is set in New York City in the late 1930s and is based on a poor family living life as they desire. They do not make a lot of money but they are extremely happy and pleased with life.
Dr. Michelle Filling-Brown became Artistic Director of the Theatre, after the previous director, Dr. Thomas Stretton, retired.
She has brought in alumna, Kait Finegan, to direct the fall production.
Finegan was an English and theater major and graduated in 2013. She works for the Philadelphia Theater Company and is currently working on receiving her masters at Drexel University.
“The theme is about not letting money control your life and it’s really about doing what makes you happy,” Finegan said. “A lot of students want to make money but they lose a sense of being happy in what they’re doing.”
Filling-Brown revealed that they are in the process of teaching one of the main characters parts to a completely different person because the original actor is not able to play the part anymore.
Filling-Brown also said that the new person is currently learning the part a week before opening night.
The Cabrini theater production currently has two other alumni helping with the play as technical director and lighting director.
Cabrini’s theater is located in Grace Hall and is commonly known as a “black box theater.”
“Having a black box is not unusual and black boxes are very common on college campuses,” Filling-Brown said. “Our black box in particular is kind of a funny shape because it used to be the horse stables.”
She says there is “some type of charm” to having a small black box theater.
This semester’s play has a cast of 19 students.
“The cast is incredibly talented, well-rounded, enthusiastic and they love being here and they love what they do,” Finnegan said. “They are great and they’re here because they love theater.”
“I like the fact that it’s small and I like the fact that the audience can be involved in the play,” Tyohnah White, freshman and upcoming English and communications major, said.
“My dream is to become a actress and a film director so once I heard about the play, I was really interested in doing it because that’s one of my passions,” White said.
White plays Rheba, the maid of the household and believes she got the part because of her sassiness.
The play “You can’t take it with you” will teach people to do what they love instead of searching for the money in everything and is a play that everyone at Cabrini will want to see.
