The Theatre Arts Department of City College of San Francisco will present a revival of the classic Broadway comedic play “You Can’t Take it With You” by George Kaufman and Moss Hart at the City College Diego Rivera Theatre on Fridays Nov. 8 & 22 8 p.m., Saturdays Nov. 9 & 23 at 2PM, Nov. 16 @ 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.
The highly-acclaimed Broadway play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1937 and its movie version garnered the Best Picture and Best Director (Frank Capra) Oscars in 1938. The play in three acts covers the lives of the members of the liberal, free-thinking Sycamore family and the chaos that erupts when their daughter’s fiancé invites his conservative, Wall Street parents to the Sycamore home for dinner on the wrong night.
The multi-cultural cast of 19 characters features three Filipino Americans in leading roles with the added bonus of a Filipino American serving as the play’s Assistant Director.
Edna Austria Rodis plays Penelope Sycamore, the eccentric mother of the Sycamore family, whose hobbies include writing plays and painting because they give her pleasure, and who is always concerned about making everyone in her large household happy.
Rogil Birco plays Ed Carmichael, the xylophone playing son –in-law of the Sycamores who distributes his wife’s candy concoctions and who prints the family’s dinner menus.
The play is directed by Susan Jackson who, with this production, celebrates her 30th anniversary as a City College instructor. Aside from directing plays, Susan is also an actress and a playwright. She most recently appeared last June in the title role of Joan Crawford in “The Gorgeous Hussy” at San Jose State University. She has performed leading roles in “Wit” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Her recent play, Blessing Her Heart, won the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award.
A Registered Nurse who served as president of the Philippine Nurses Association of Northern California, Edna Rodis has performed in previous City College plays directed by Susan Jackson including the leading role of Amanda Winfield in the Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” which was presented for six nights at the Diego Rivera Theater in October of 2011. Edna also acted in other City College productions like “The Night of the Iguana” and “Guys and Dolls.” Her theatre experience began with playing various roles in the 2001-2003 production of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” produced by the Filipina Women’s Network.
