Colorblind cast for the next Diablo Valley College play
One of the last rehearsals of “You Can’t Take it With You” on February 27, 2017.
March 7, 2017
Diablo Valley College Drama will be presenting “You Can’t Take it With You”, a comedic play with a serious message about living life to the fullest.
The Drama department chose to put on this comedy show by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, which premiered on Broadway in 1936.
This idealistic comedy emphasizes the idea that the best way to live life is by doing whatever makes you happy and in the end, love conquers all. Two very different families have to find a way to get along when their children fall in love and decide to get married.
“This play is all about enjoying life, not being wrapped up by the world we are in,” director Ryan Weible said.
This former DVC student discovered his passion for directing during his years in the drama department. He has since worked on several plays in Broadway.
“You Can’t Take It With You” will include special effects like fireworks.
“It was a real challenge, we had to solve a lot of technical problems,” Weible said. But even with some scheduling problems due to the other play Weible is working on in San Francisco, the team managed to have frequent rehearsals.
“It shows that Ryan trusts us enough to pull together a good show without seeing each other everyday for two months,” said cast member Elizabeth Martinie.
The colorblind cast is Weible’s personal choice, “I am much more interested by diversity, I long for the day when audiences attend a show, see people of all ethnicity playing typically “white” roles and don’t notice.”
“Originally some roles were played by Afro-Americans and this is not the case here,” Scottie Tsubota said, an actor playing Paul Sycamore. Majoring in theater, Tsubota will act in his first real play next month.
“This is the first time that I am going to play a father, and this is a different role that I am used to and I love it.”
“‘You Can’t Take It With You‘ has a sense of community, it is quirky, it is funny, it might make you cry, and it will definitely make you laugh,” said Martinie.
There are going to be 9 performances in 2 weeks and tickets are available online at the DVC Drama website.
Jordan • Mar 10, 2017 at 7:55 pm
Did someone at DVC give you the word “colorblind?” Because I think that it is irresponsible for any casting decision to be called colorblind. We are not blind to color. When people make a decision about casting, skin color is always considered. It always has an effect on how the audience views the show. And that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Difference helps us learn about how others view and see the world. There’s no such thing as being color blind.