MRH Fall Play Teaches Meaning of Family Right: Ed (Nelson Ricks, 12), Essie (Devin Revie, 9) and Martin Vanderhof (Brandon Moseley, 11) try to follow as Henderson (Maxx Diebold, 9) explains why taxes should be paid to the government. In the background, Penelope Sycamore (Brittany Moseley, 9) tries to ignore the commotion. Below: Mr. DePinna (David O’Keefe, 10), Paul Sycamore (Zaphron Richardson, 11) Penelope and Essie look on happily as Tony Kirby (Bryant Rohlfing, 11) declares his love for Alice (Ashleigh Owens, 9).
Story by Noah Snyder
microCHIP Reporter
You Can’t Take it With You is a comedy that stars two New York families, the Sycamores and the Kirbys, and their wildly funny interactions. Tony Kirby falls in love with Alice Sycamore, but Alice soon realizes that their families might be the deciding factor in their relationship. She can’t handle the embarrassment that her family doles out regularly. This, however, is one of the reasons Tony falls in love with her.
What Alice perceives to be “eccentric,” Tony sees as a family actually caring for each other. With some groveling, he convinces her to stay with him, and eventually they agree to get married. Naturally, the families have to meet in order for them to get married. The madness ensues when Tony “accidentally” brings his family for dinner on Thursday, instead of the previously agreed upon Friday. The Sycamores are in disarray, and Alice is thoroughly embarrassed. Tony has a point, though. He brings his family on the wrong night knowing
the Sycamores would be partaking in their usual odd activities, simply to prove a point. However odd and eccentric this family full of firework makers and wanna-be ballerinas is, they love one another, something Tony Kirby feels his parents have never reciprocated. The play opens in the Sycamores’ living room. Penelope Sycamore, the motherly character played by Brittany Moseley delivers the opening lines with conviction and precision to Essie, an overly enthusiastic ballerina played by Devin Revie. These two made for a hilarious duo throughout, only aided by the quips of Ed, played by Nelson Ricks. The Maid Rheba and her husband Donald, played by Gabbie Kirkland and Quinton Wells,
added even more laughs when he brings home “pickled hogs feet” for the Kirby-Sycamore dinner. Perhaps the funniest character of all though, was Martin Vanderhof, played by Brandon Moseley. The gist is that Vanderhof refuses to pay his income tax, because he “doesn’t believe in it”. Upon being investigated by the IRS, the investigator becomes infuriated and storms out, forgetting his hat. Naturally, Vanderhof starts wearing it. When complimented on his new hat, he thanks them and says that, “(I) got it from the government!” Some audience members couldn’t make out the next few lines because of the laughter. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this play. I thought the humor was subtle enough to not overshadow the major themes. You Can’t Take it With You engaged the audience and made for a convivial experience. Students who haven’t seen a play performed live by the MRH theatre group are missing out!
Faces Behind MRH Story by Matt Green
microCHIP Reporter
Teaching has expanded from just being in the classroom. High School Teachers Nicole Notorangelo and Ben Nims like to bring their own personal experiences into everyday learning. Notorangelo shares experiences from when she was in the Peace Corps to her students so they can can get a better understanding of the world. “I share pictures and videos from when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras and when I traveled to Nicaragua,” said Notorangelo. Notorangelo has recently traveled to Poland, made a connection with a teacher there, and has started a Pen Pal program for her Spanish students with the students in Poland. “It’s really cool because you can talk to them and see what it’s like in Poland compared to the United States,” said sophomore Dylan Boyer. Students enjoy Notorangelo’s personal experiences in the
classroom. “When you live in the United States you get a generic look of the world but she widens our horizons and shows us what the world really is,” added Boyer. Nims brings artifacts from places he has traveled to back to the students so they can learn about the environment. “It is always good as a teacher if you can share a story about places you have been and relate it to the topics you are teaching and I think that students respond to that,” said Nims. “Nims brought up a trip of when he went to the Galapagos Islands, and that provided a lot of interesting context about what we were studying in ecology,” said junior Paul Mueser. Nims includes the students in the classroom as much as he can. “I’m not the sage on the stage where I know everything and I’m giving you all this wisdom; I like it to be back and forth with the students,” added Nims.
Above: Teacher Ben Nims explains how his visits to faraway places help him form curriculum in his class.