Local Chattanooga, Georgia actors to perform family comedy in theater classic “You Can’t Take It With You”

A grandfather who collects snakes and refuses to pay income tax, a sister who is a terrible ballerina, a father who builds fireworks in the basement, and a mother who writes sordid plays that will never get published. Everyone knows you don’t pick your family. No one knows this better than Alice Sycamore.

Award-winning theater group Back Alley Productions invites you to the classic family comedy “You Can’t Take It With You” set for performances at the Colonnade Performing Arts Center.

Performances are set for July 25 and 26 and Aug. 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee at 1 p.m. on August 2. The Colonnade is located at 264 Catoosa Circle in Ringgold. Tickets can be purchased online at tinyurl.com/colonnadetickets or at the Colonnade box office the day of the show. Pricing is $11 for adults and $9 for students, seniors and children.

The production tells the story of Alice Sycamore, who couldn’t be more sick of her odd and often embarrassing family — and the many people they consider family who just live in their house, including a Russian ballet instructor/wrestler with a strong mind for politics, an actress who never stops drinking and an icebox man who came inside eight years ago to talk to Mr. Sycamore and, for some reason, just never left.

Alice expects the worst when she brings her boyfriend Tony home to test the waters of their relationship. Tony, the son of Alice’s stiff-buttoned boss, resents his no-nonsense upbringing and comes to love the Sycamore family’s free-spirited lifestyle — even the bottle rockets. But when Tony’s stern father and dissatisfied mother also decide to visit the Sycamores on an especially crazy night at their New York house the real fireworks fly.

“You Can’t Take It With You” won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was adapted for the screen in 1938, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. It is also currently a recent Broadway revival in New York City, gaining resurgence in popularity.

The local production is done in arrangement with Dramatist Play Services and is written by George Kaufman and Moss Hart. It stars local actors and actresses from North Georgia — including Catoosa, Walker and Whitfield counties — and the Chattanooga area. For questions, call (706) 621-2870 or (706) 935-9000, or email backalleyperformances@gmail.com.

Visit backalleyproductions.org for information on future shows including auditions for “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” set for Aug. 18 and 19 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with performances set for Oct. 17, 18, 24 and 25 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee set for Oct. 25 at 1 p.m.

Back Alley Productions is an award-winning theater company in its fourth season. The company aims to unite the North Georgia and Chattanooga community under the motto that “live theater is for everyone.”