You Can’t Take It With You might be known best as Frank Capra’s enormously successful 1938 film, but it originated as a Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
You can see a new revival of the show at Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research (251 Huron St.), with performances on May 23-25, May 27, and May 30-June 1.
All the more poignant is that producer and cast member Emma Hart is actually the granddaughter of playwright Moss Hart, who wrote the show with George S. Kaufman back in 1936. Hart produced the revival alongside Cassidy Gyetvan and Andy Petrilak, with Katie Devin Orenstein as director.
The play depicts the eccentric Sycamore family, whose only relatively normal member, Alice, gets engaged and must figure out how to introduce her fiancé.
“You Can’t Take It With You deals with themes of labor, wealth inequality, and corporate greed. Those conversations have only grown louder and coarser since the play premiered almost 90 years ago,” the team told Greenpointers.
“It was written during the Great Depression, and here in 2025, we’re facing an economic climate that feels eerily similar. But because the wealthiest among us continue to benefit, that reality often goes undiscussed on a national level. This play allows us to laugh—really laugh—without having to bury our heads in the sand; it’s cathartic in that way. It’s also honest. The play understands that while we didn’t create the world we’re stuck in, we do get to choose how we treat each other.”
The team also gave a special shout out to the Greenpoint community for their support during the play’s creative process, reflecting on how the neighborhood’s changed landscape highlights some of the play’s themes.
“With so many more people moving to the neighborhood, I hope we see more performance spaces—music venues, theaters, all of it—built into the new waterfront developments. The arts should grow with the community they serve,” director Katie Devin Orenstein said.
A portion of the show’s proceeds from the show will benefit Palestinian Youth Movement and Black & Pink, a prison abolitionist organization.
Get tickets here.