Throughout the fall, spring and summer, community members are bringing a bit of Broadway to Brookings.
The Brookings Community Theatre (BCT) is a non-profit organization that provides up to three musical and nonmusical shows a year that community members can be involved in and enjoy.
The most recent show “You Can’t Take It With You,” performed last weekend.
The play was written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart and first shown on Broadway in the 1930s.
The comedy focuses on Alice Sycamore and her boyfriend, Tony Kirby’s parents meeting for the first time.
Hijinks ensue when the Kirbys come on the wrong night, and the Sycamores scramble to feed and host them.
Jason Soren, president of the BCT board of directors, plays Tony’s father, Mr. Kirby.
Soren said the play is more than just a story about two families coming together.
“There are messages within it that we need to live for the moment and not necessarily live for the money,” Soren said.
Shows have six to eight weeks of rehearsal time to get everything and everyone ready for opening night.
The BCT committee meets in August to plan out its season and then votes on what productions they want to put on during the year.
For a typical fall and spring show BCT will hire a director about two to three months before opening night.
“You Can’t Take It With You” was directed by SDSU senior theatre major Steven Marienau.
Marienau has been involved in the SDSU theatre department since he was a freshman and a member of Alpha Psi Omega for three years.
As director, he is responsible for putting together auditions, communicating with the cast, setting the rehearsal space and organizing the whole show.
“In the beginning, I had this idea of the show in my head, then as we got the cast and started the rehearsal process that idea changed,” Marienau said. “But getting to see the show and cast from beginning to end grow was probably the coolest thing.”
One of the cast members Marienau directed was Caldwell and Schultz Hall director Andrea Mayrose.
Mayrose has been a hall director at SDSU for almost three years and has been involved with BCT for about the same amount of time. She auditioned for a play a couple months after starting her job as a hall director at SDSU in 2015.
Mayrose plays Alice Sycamore’s sister, Essie Carmichael, who lives in the Sycamore’s house with her husband, Ed Carmichael. This will be her fifth time on stage acting for BCT.
She has always loved the theatre and any chance to perform. Being involved with BCT has given her that chance again, but she also sees it as more than just being on stage.
“Because I live and work on campus, I enjoy the opportunity to get to meet people who are also connected to the SDSU community, and also people who aren’t,” Mayrose said. “It’s a community building opportunity as well.”
