Editor,

Last Friday I attended the opening night performance of “You Can’t Take It With You” by Moss Hart and George Kauffman presented by Windham Center Stage Theater at the Windham Community Center. What a delightful ensemble show!

The large cast of late-1930s zany eccentrics is both loveable and laughable from rugged individualist Grandpa (Garvey MacLean) to doting bohemian mama Penny (Helene Quint). The very drunken actress Miss Wellington (Barb Stauble) and ballet dancemeister Kohlenkhov (Allen Sample) are hilarious scene stealers, but each cast member in turn has his time to shine.

Veteran director, actor and teacher Jerry Walker of Standish has brought fresh acting faces and experienced talent to Windham Center Stage Theater in his first-time association with Windham’s longstanding community theater. The theater enjoys a solid reputation of success bolstered in most recent years by its well-known large children’s musicals. This cast, under Walker’s direction and Kim McBride’s production management, renews Windham Center Stage Theater’s strength as a producer of well done comedy plays. Kudos also to artistic director Barbara Stauble.

Fast paced, smart, and funny, “You Can’t Take It With You” is a sharp-witted comedy written in a time of American consciousness when “spin” was a dance move, not a media manipulation of facts. Senior theater-goers especially don’t want to miss this entertaining show that runs at the Windham Community Center through Sunday, Nov. 11.

Gayle Clarke

Windham