ShawneeDispatch.com

For senior Katie Badger, Mill Valley High School's spring play "You Can't Take it With You," is about more than just kooky characters.

"It's probably the most challenging script we've had to work with," said Badger, who plays Mrs. Kolenkhov. "There's this whole underlying message. As a senior, I am trying to decide what I want to do with my life."

The Pulitzer Prize winning play written by George S. Kaufman was first performed in 1936. The plot tells the story of the quirky Sycamore family and the unhappy Kirby family. Alice Sycamore, played by Lizzie Gremminger, is convinced that a marriage to Tony Kirby, played by Wes Young, is out of the question after the Kirby family is invited to eat cheap food with the Sycamore family. Tony knows that the Sycamore family lives the right way, while his own family is the one that is crazy. His father, played by Ryan Hague, finally comes around to the happy madness of the Sycamore family.

The play is directed by volunteer Rick Brown and produced by Mill Valley drama teacher Bob Velazquez. Brown started volunteering at Mill Valley when his children attended the school. He said he still helps with productions because he loves working with the kids.

"I love watching them grow," he said. "I love seeing them do things - watching them come out of their comfort zone."

Brown said this is his fourth or fifth time directing the spring show. He said "You Can't Take it With You" appealed to him for a number of reasons.

"For one, it's got a lot of characters in it," he said. "You want as many kids in it as you can possibly get."

He also enjoyed the script, which has had a revival in other theaters, he said.

"It stresses accepting people for their differences," he said. "In a time period when so many people are focused on work, it is focused on family."

Finally, Brown said he liked that the show was from the 1930s.

"When you pick a show from the '30s there are so many things the kids don't understand," he said.

Brown pointed out that the Russian characters in the play were significant because it was written shortly after the creation of the Soviet Union.

Becca Cline, who plays Penelope Sycamore, said the show would be really entertaining for high school students and adults.

"There's lots of humor in it," she said.

However, she said it was a demanding show for students.

"It's the length of a musical and it's all speech," she said.

Ryan Hague said learning his lines was his biggest challenge as he is used to performing in musicals.

"It's a lot easier to learn music than it is to learn lines," he said.