In Pursuit of Hobby

Image courtesy repstl.org

The other night, Mr. H and I went to The Rep's production of You can't take it with you.  When people think of theatre, they think of New York and Chicago.  But St. Louis really has some great theatre houses.  I think maybe people don't think of us as a theatre town, because we don't have a wealth of small theatres for actors to get their start.  Take The Rep for instance.  It is on the campus of Webster University, yet it features primarily professional equity actors.  Some big names sometimes too, the next show will have Kathleen Turner appearing.  I'm very thankful for St. Louis' theatre scene.  I've always enjoyed good live theatre, and visiting The Rep is always a treat.  The theatre is small, so you never have a bad seat.  The sets are consistently the best I've ever seen, though I guess I can't say I'm well traveled theatrically. If I wasn't s

cared of breaking some sort of equity set law, I'd have snapped some shots for you.  But The Rep's sets are really amazing.  I always feel like I'm really there.  The set for You can't take it with you was great, it really felt like an eclectic family's living room. Here is a pic from the show's website. 

Overall, the show was good.  The plot is straightforward, Girl meets boy, son of the owner of the company where she works.  They get engaged, and girl must introduce boy's family to her family.  Only, the girl's family has spent their life in the pursuit of happiness, with little thought to career or income.  Her parents, sister and brother-in-law, and several employees are all supported by Grandpa, a man who retired from business early in life, and makes a yearly income off of "property."  The main point of the show, is that, since you can't take it with you, you should be happy.  The cynic in me can't help but think that lifestyle only works if you have a "grandpa" in your life.  While Mr. Hobby and I agree that you shouldn't kill yourself for your job - that your job isn't your life, your life is what you do outside your job - we still think we have to work, whether we like it or not. 

I was thankful for a night at the theatre though, it was very entertaining. I always love theatre programs, in part because they advertise other shows that will be in the future. I think theatre-going would make an excellent full-time hobby, but I imagine it could get expensive. 

*A funny side note about The Rep and me.  While most of its performers are equity actors, I actually performed on the stage when I was a student in highschool.  Before digital photography, nobody was snapping pictures on their non-existent cell phone (we cool kids had pagers) so there is nothing to post.  But they do a program called WiseWrite, where elementary school students write plays.  Then, volunteers like us high school students stage the play for the students, using the Rep's stage.  A fun little claim to fame, too bad they didn't have facebook back then, that would've made a great status update.  ;)  If you're in the St. Louis area and want more information on WiseWrite (I know they need volunteers) visit: http://www.repstl.org/wisewrite/