Auditions for 'You Can't Take it With You' start Aug. 10 in Pequot Lakes

PEQUOT LAKES — Auditions for the next production by Pequot Lakes Community Theatre - the Pulitzer Prize- and Oscar-winning comedy "You Can’t Take it With You," by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman - will be held from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 10-11, in the Pequot Lakes High School auditorium.

Auditions will consist of readings from the script. The script is available online.

The director is Michael Sander. Any questions can be addressed to him at sandwood@uslink.net.

The play, set in 1936, concerns the Sycamore family, a large and loving group of eccentrics who follow their own impulses and march to very different drummers. These are the characters, in order of appearance:

• Penny Sycamore: A supportive mother who keeps changing career paths according to the whims of chance. Possible age range: 40-60.
• Essie: Penny’s daughter, so determined to be a dancer that she literally dances through life. PAR: 15-25.
• Rheba: The family cook, kind of sassy but practically a family member. PAR: open.
• Paul Sycamore: Penny’s husband, not visibly employed, spends all his time in the basement creating fireworks. PAR: 40-60.
• Mr. De Pinna: Came to the house 15 years before to deliver ice and never left. Works with Paul. PAR: 50-70.
• Ed Carmichael: Essie’s husband. Writes poetry, plays the xylophone. PAR: 20-30.
• Donald: Rheba’s boyfriend, hustles to help out, practically a family member. PAR: open.
• Martin Vanderhof: Grandpa, Penny’s father, stopped working 35 years ago, has a unique philosophy of life. PAR: 60-80.
• Alice Sycamore: The one “conventional” family member, loves all the others and is in love with her boss’s son. PAR: 20-35.
• Mr. Henderson: FBI agent, very little patience. PAR: open.
• Tony Kirby: The above mentioned boss’s son, equally in love with Alice. PAR: 25-40.
• Bolus Kolenkhov: Essie’s ballet teacher, a bombastic Russian. PAR: 40-60.
• Gay Wellington: An inebriated actress brought home by Penny to read a script. Age: open.
• Mr. Kirby: Tony’s father, stuffy, uptight, with a few secrets of his own. PAR: 50-70.
• Mrs. Kirby: Tony’s mother, well aware of her importance in society. PAR: 50-70.
• Two men or women: Federal agents. PAR: open.
• Olga: Russian Grand Duchess in exile, fallen on hard times but dealing with it gracefully. PAR: 40 and up.