Director Ed Shea and his 2nd Story Theatre have kicked off their summer season with just the sort of show they do best, a madcap rendition of "You Can't Take It With You". In Shea's hands this Kaufman and Hart classic is a tight, crisp romp.

Actually, Shea is only directing part of it, though. The play is in three acts, and each one has a different director, starting with Pat Hegnauer, who helped Shea found 2nd Story years ago, then Bob Colonna and finally Shea for the rousing finale.

Does this mean the show feels patched together? Not at all. The acts flow seamlessly.

You Can't Take It With You is, of course, one of the most popular plays of all time. It's about the eccentric Sycamore family, who sets off fireworks in the basement and keeps a printing press in the living room. That's all well and good until daughter Alice falls for Tony Kirby and invites his uptight parents for dinner.

The Kirbys show up on the wrong night and encounter a mad house.

The cast of characters in this play is amazing. Penny Sycamore, the mom, bangs out plays on the typewriter and paints portraits on the side, while husband Paul tends to the fireworks. Grandpa Vanderhof has run afoul of the IRS for more than 20 years of back taxes.

They are nut cases all, but they know how to live, something the Kirbys could take a lesson from.

Colonna doubles as director and crusty old grandpa, and as always he is a treat to behold. This is a man with impeccable timing and an understated delivery.

Margaret Melozzi, who hasn't been seen at 2nd Story for a while, is back as Penny Sycamore, and she is perfect as the ditzy matriarch. Tom Roberts is a hoot as the outlandish Russian house guest Kolenkov.

But the show really belongs to Dillon Medina as the love-struck Tony and fetching Erin Sheehan as Alice. Alice feels the relationship is doomed because the two families will probably never get along. But wide-eyed Tony believes love can conquer all.

It's true that Sheehan seemed a little green, but she also brings a certain freshness to the part that made it a winner.

In lesser roles, Eric Behr is stuffy Mr. Kirby and Peggy Becker plays his wife. Jonathan Jacobs is fine as the high-strung son-in-law Ed Carmichael, who spends his time printing broadsides in the living room.

All this is played out in the round, with a couple of tables and a sofa for the set.

You Can't Take It With You is perfect summer fare, light, frothy and very funny. And 2nd Story is doing it right.

With the opening of 2nd Story Theatre's summer season this week comes the return of the downstairs restaurant, which has undergone some tweaking during the season it has been closed.

Gone are elaborate meals, and in their stead a lighter menu of paninis, soups and salads is being offered. The idea was to cut back on the number of cooks working the kitchen. On busy nights in the past, there might be as many as five people preparing meals, and because of that, it became difficult to cover expenses. With this new menu the kitchen staff can be trimmed to two.

The restaurant is only open during nights there are shows, and most everyone eating there has come to see the play, which means there is just one seating, which is not terribly efficient.

"It was an expensive undertaking," said 2nd Story artistic director Ed Shea. "One seating really didn't cover it."

Shea said the restaurant has never made money, but was more a convenience for patrons who liked being able to have a meal before a show and not have to worry about getting to the theater on time.

"It was never fine dining," said Shea. "It was more the one-stop thing. And people have missed that."

While the restaurant is open only on show nights, it will be open after performances for a late-night bite. Shea is also counting on patrons eating at the bar with the new menu, and thus opening up more seats.

And he's talking about adding dishes at some point, perhaps as the winter season rolls around. He'd like to offer "the perfect burger."

"I think it will continue to evolve," said Shea.

And speaking of the winter season, Shea has planned a lineup of shows that he believes most people around here have not seen, beginning with I Am My Own Wife, with Shea making a rare stage appearance as the East German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. He also has to become something like 35 other characters during the play.

Shea said he saw the show in New York years ago and was "haunted" by it afterwards.

I Am My Own Wife opens Sept. 25 and runs to Oct. 25.

Next up is an adaptation of Harper Lee's touching coming-of-age novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. While most people know the story of the stubborn Southern lawyer who risks his career defending a black man unjustly accused of raping a white woman, they have not seen it dramatized, said Shea. That show opens Nov. 13 and runs to Dec. 13.

Alan Ayckbourne's Comic Potential plays 2nd Story Jan. 22 to Feb. 21, 2010. The show is about a young actor working the soaps who falls for an android actor.

Close parallels to the Bernie Madoff scandal are found in the Voysey Inheritance, which opens March 12. For generations the Voysey family business has been cheating its clients. It's only when young Edward inherits the business from his father that he is shocked to learn the source of the family fortune. As the risk of exposure looms large, Edward's sense of right and wrong becomes increasingly distorted.

The season ends April 30 with comedian Steve Martin's adaptation of Carl Sternheim's 1910 German comedy, The Underpants, a risqué romp about a woman who drops her drawers at an outing for the king. Her husband, a low level bureaucrat, assumes the scandal will ruin him, but the men in the town have other things on their minds.

But before all that, 2nd Story has two summertime comedies on tap, starting this week with You Can't Take it With You, one of the more popular plays of all time. The catch here is that Shea has turned the three-act play over to three different directors, one per act. Besides himself, Bob Colonna and Pat Hegnauer, who cofounded 2nd Story with Shea, will be pitching in.

When Tony Kirby falls for Alice Sycamore, she invites his bourgeoise parents to dinner. But the Sycamores are a tad eccentric, and amid fireworks and an ex-Russian Grand Duchess-turned waitress, the Kirbys learn that love and family are where it's at.

You Can't Take it With You opened Wednesday in previews and runs through Aug. 2.

Then on Aug. 12, more summer fare is in stock with Harvey, the tale of affable Elwood P. Dowd and his 6½-foot invisible rabbit.

Rarely did a play arrive with better timing than You Can't Take It With You, the joyfully optimistic paean to the American spirit that earned its Pulitzer in 1936, when the country was licking the wounds of collective Depression. The comedy by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart is at 2nd Story Theatre (through August 2), and they're doing a terrific job bringing the heartening reminder about being carefree to today's financially distracted audiences.

Why suffer the stress of a dog-eat-dog business life when you can frolic like puppies with friends and loved ones? That's the message of the collective hero of this play, a family as indiscriminately inclusive as this country likes to think it is. An iceman arrived eight years before, liked the household, and never left. Another guy came to dinner and not only stuck around but also married into the family. Whatever makes one of them happy is fine with everyone else there. A typewriter was misdelivered, so one of them began writing plays. Bad plays, but nobody is keeping track.

Seeing as this laff riot was a collaboration - Kaufman and Hart wrote several other plays together - 2nd Story head honcho Ed Shea decided to share the fun with two other directors. So the first act was ringmastered by the theater's co-founder, Pat Hegnauer; the second by actor and director Bob Colonna; and the last by Shea.

How appropriately distributed. Hegnauer is a master of the two- and three-person play, so she was put in charge of soundly establishing the characters. Colonna does wonders with comic timing, so the free-for-all act is his. The forte of Shea, who almost always directs the plays here, is to pump up the vitality so that we don't want to blink, lest we miss something, so he gets to gallop everything to the finish line. (Yet without rushing things - refreshingly, he has this old warhorse stop to sniff the dandelions before resuming the race.) The combined result doesn't come across as a comedy created by committee, but rather as one informed by extra imaginations.

All right, all right - the uplifting message of this comedy is limited by being a middle-class one, since the family and its blithe patriarch, grandpa Martin Vanderhof (Colonna), don't have to worry too hard about money. He enjoys a steady, if modest, income from rental properties, having given up the business world rat race decades before.

His daughter, Penny (Margaret Melozzi), is the hapless though upbeat playwright. Her husband, Paul (Walter Cotter), plays with Erector Sets and makes fireworks in the basement, which provides an occasional comical soundtrack of muffled explosions. Their daughter, Essie (Hillary Parker), loves to dance and never stops posing or stretching. Her husband, Ed (Jonathan Jacobs), delivers the candy she makes, but he spends most of his time playing the xylophone and printing Bolshevik slogans on his printing press. Essie's lack of talent is ignored even by her ballet instructor, expansive Russian émigré Boris Kolenkhov (Tom Roberts). ("Life is chasing around inside of me like squirrels," he announces, speaking for this entire squirrelly crew.)

Yet upon every such picnic some rain must fall. So young Alice Sycamore (Erin Sheehan), while she loves her family dearly, has fallen in love at the office with her boss's son, Tony Kirby (Dillon Medina), and she doesn't want to be embarrassed by her eccentric family. Needless to say, the scene is in Bohemian disarray when in walk her fiancé's parents, the stiffly correct Anthony W. Kirby (Eric Behr) and his reluctantly repressed wife, Miriam (Peggy Becker). The production is blessed with good actors, but Medina needs to be singled out for a touching but underplayed confrontation, as the son unleashes a lifetime of warranted anger at his father. Kudos too to Shea for the lengthy, echoing silence after the scene.

This rendition of You Can't Take It With You is brought into our century by replacing what was a black servant and her boyfriend with a white one, Rheba (Laura Sorensen) and her mannishly dressed lesbian lover (Amy Thompson). But it's really timeless, reminding us that an openhearted spirit and tolerance for differences are traits that this country can be proud of for as long as they persist.

Kaufman and Hart's classic comedy, "You Can't Take It With You," is getting a top notch production from the 18-member cast at 2nd Story Theatre. It's a fast-paced, zany, in-your-face interpretation of one of the funniest plays ever written.

Shea has chosen to collaborate with cohorts Pat Hegnauer and Bob Colonna on the direction, with each taking charge of one of the three acts. It is kind of an odd approach, but this is an odd play about very odd people.

Today, we would call the Sycamore family "dysfunctional," but by the standards of the 1930s they were just plain crazy.

The plot is simple, and you can see where it is headed at every turn and that's okay. It goes where you want it to go, bringing laugh-out-loud moments with it along the way.

Alice Sycamore (Erin Sheehan), the only sane member of the extended family, is in love with her boss, Tony Kirby (Dillon Medina), the young vice president of the company she works for. His father just happens to own the company.

Mr. and Mrs. Kirby (Eric Behr and Peggy Becker, perfectly cast) show up for dinner a night early, catching the family going about their bizarre activities. The action moves so swiftly that you barely have time to catch your breath.

Margaret Melozzi is perfect as the matriarch who switches from painting to novel writing when a typewriter is inadvertently dropped off at the house. She isn't very good at either, but doesn't have a clue.

Husband Paul (Walter Cotter) makes fireworks in the cellar. Son-in-law Ed (Jonathan Jacobs) sells candy in boxes stuffed with revolutionary sayings. His wife (Hillary Parker) thinks she can dance, being tutored by a mad Russian (Tom Roberts at his zaniest).

The craziest member of the family happens to be the one that makes the most sense. Bob Colonna is marvelous as Grandpa Vanderhof, the wise but crazy old man who has long ago quit his job, stopped paying taxes and learned to enjoy life to its fullest.

Colonna plays a scatterbrained old man who, when the going gets tough, actually makes sense. The veteran actor flubbed a few lines on press night, but because of his talent and experience he got away with it, fitting the flubbing right into his character. It is always a pleasure to see him on stage.

The supporting actors all blend into the play perfectly. I must mention Paula Faber, who plays a drunken actress in one of the funniest moments in the play, and Isabel O'Donnell, who appears briefly as a Russian countess who waits tables at Child's.

The turning point of the play comes in a hilarious scene where Penny Sycamore suggests a word association game, which proves to be both revealing and outrageously funny.

After some wild and crazy moments all is resolved. If you have seen the play or movie, you'll know what happens, but you'll never see it done so outlandishly.

Like most plays of the era, there are messages, like the one in the title, and resolutions that will please the audience.

Alice asks her family, "Why can't we be like other people?"

Thankfully, they are not.

"You Can't Take It With You" is at 2nd Story Theatre in Warren (now with a new "lift" and new rest rooms) through August 2. Call 247-4200 for reservations.

The downstairs restaurant at 2nd Story has reopened as the Café at 2nd Story, with a lighter, eclectic menu that is perfect for before or after the show.

Open to the public Wednesday through Sunday evenings, the intimate dining room (with an overflow room) has a classic wooden bar and comfortable seating. Diners are guaranteed arriving at the performance by curtain time.

If you wish to dine during the show, the Café is open. (Just make sure you see the show on a different night).

The menu consists of soups, salads and delicious panini plus desserts.

Joyce enjoyed mesclun salad, while i chose the beet salad. Both were fresh, large and delicious.

I had the Wilde panini (ham, pork, Swiss cheese and jalapeno mayonnaise), while Joyce chose the Pinter (prosciutto, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese, with an apple-pear compote). They were both delicious.

Prices start at $15 for panini and soup or salad. All three cost $18. A variety of soups and salads are available for $14.

Other paninis include the Brecht (corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese; the Durang (turkey and garnishes); The Feydeau and the Moliere (vegetarian).

Actress Paula Faber is managing the restaurant. In the current play she has time to get into costume, handle her 2nd act role, and get back downstairs to handle the customers. And check out Vince's martinis at the bar.

In 2009, I have to muse about how mainstream "crazy" has become. The Sycamore clan, which is depicted in the George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart drawing-room comedy You Can't Take It With You is animated, of course. In the late 1930's, when the play was written, the family may have seemed really nuts, now however, they seem too comfortable, too familiar, to be really nuts. Present-day, they seem only a bit odd. We have seen versions of this family, either in real-life or in entertainment many times. This familiarity tamps the hilarity, but certainly adds to the charm.

At the center of the extended Sycamore clan of family and friends there is Grandpa (Bob Colonna), whose personality can be summed up in the fact he has never paid income tax, since the Federal Income Tax was established.

His daughter Penny (Margaret Melozzi) fancied herself a painter until a typewriter appeared eight years ago. Penny then began writing novels. She has started writing many and has finished writing none. Penny's husband Paul (Walter Cotter) makes, and tests, fireworks in the basement.

Their older daughter Essie (Hillary Parker) makes and sells candies, while studying to be dancer under the tutelage of her Russian teacher, Kolenkov (Tom Roberts). Essie's husband Ed (Jonathan Jacobs) keeps a xylophone and a small printing press in the family room.

It has been years since any of these characters has held a steady job. Yet, the family has a live-in maid. It isn't clear that the maid earns any actual money. The audience surmises that she works for room and board. In 2nd Story's production, Artistic Director Ed Shea has tweaked the maid character and her husband from a heterosexual, married, African-American couple to a lesbian couple (Laura Sorensen as Rheba and Amy Thompson as Frances) with clearly defined butch-femme roles. The update works quite well.

Penny and Paul's youngest daughter Alice (Erin Sheehan) does hold a respectable job and has fallen in love with Tony Kirby (Dillon Medina), the son of a local, conservative, industrialist. After Tony and Alice get engaged they plan a dinner for their respective families to meet.

In Act Two, the couple's well-laid plans to present Penny's eccentric family in the best possible light are blown to smithereens (almost literally) when Tony and his parents (Eric Behr as Mr. Kirby and Peggy Becker as Mrs. Kirby) show up for dinner a day early. Everything that can go wrong, does. During the impromptu dinner, Federal Agents show up to arrest Grandpa for not paying his taxes. During a search of the house, the agents find Mr. Sycamore's firework supplies and mistake it for bomb-making material. Everyone in the house is taken into custody and spends the night in jail.

All of the misunderstandings are resolved in Act Three and everyone lives happily ever after.

The play is in three short acts, each about 20 minutes long. Building on the collaboration between Kaufman and Hart, Ed Shea has each act directed with different director. Pat Hegnauer directs Act One, Bob Colonna; Act Two. Shea takes the reins in Act Three. The trio have been working together for decades and the production is seamless from act to act.

Trevor Elliot's set design embodies the conformability of the production. There is an overstuffed sofa, period pieces and the family gathers around a large, but not quite large enough, dining table.

Bob Colonna does a terrific job as the grandfather everyone wishes they had. Erin Sheehan and Dillon Medina are charming an believable as the starry-eyed couple.

Melozzi and Cotter give fine performances and the Sycamore parents. Behr and Becker seem entirely comfortable as the stuffy Kirbys.

Kaufman and Hart have included some quirky neighbor "character" roles in the piece. Tom Roberts, Isabel O'Donnell and Paula Faber are each more than comfortable playing over-the-top.

This production You Can't Take It With You is funny and comfortable. It allows the audience to simply sit back and enjoy.

Summer has been a bummer so far, you say? The weather is dreary and so's the economic forecast. You can't get a tan, you can't get away, you can't get a break and "You Can't Take It With You."

A good summer comedy is as much of a fun-filled tradition around here as the Bristol Fourth of July Parade and Warren's 2nd Story Theatre has a great one in Kaufman and Hart's good old-fashioned laugh riot, "You Can't Take It With You."

It's rare for any comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize but this one did in 1937 and remains a timeless classic, an American comedy that can stack up to Shakespeare or Moliere any day precisely because of its uplifting message that love conquers all, even in a madcap world.

This is a show with big belly laughs and a big heart, a feel-good comedy that stars Rhode Island theatrical legend Bob Colonna, a man who has been making audiences feel good for decades. The play remains so popular today because funny just doesn't get old and, to quote 2nd Story Artistic Director Ed Shea, "You Can't Take It With You" reminds us that "life's too short, so live, laugh and love."

Thanks to recent improvements at 2nd Story, it's easier for everyone to see the show. You can get upstairs now that both a ramp and an elevator have been installed. This makes the theater more accessible than ever as you needn't contend with steep stairs to get to the 2nd Story.

"You Can't Take It With You" but you can get a nosh as, after a year's hiatus for re-tooling, the Café at 2nd Story has reopened. Featuring light summer fare, the first-floor Café is open for drinks and dining before and after the show. The new menu offers salads, soups, desserts and an assortment of paninis named for playwrights.

No one ever names a sandwich after a critic, but then, we often eat our own words. As always, concessions are also available in the theater proper and beer and wine may be purchased at the bar and brought up stairs. So I guess you can take it with you.

Playwright, director and critic George S. Kaufman was an American original, known as much for his acid tongue as well as his unerring funny bone. Every Broadway season between 1921 and 1958 had a play that was written or directed by him but he usually wrote with a partner, most notably his favorite collaborator Moss Hart.

In this spirit of collaboration, 2nd Story's production has three directors - count 'em, three - as Pat Hegnauer, Bob Colonna and Ed Shea each take the reins for a different act. On-stage comedic collaboration is achieved by the eccentric Sycamore family who simply don't have the same concerns as the rest of us and are content to exist as a sort of bohemian collective, each merrily doing their own thing.

What happens when the one "normal" member of this family falls for the son of a stuffy Wall Street stockbroker? Well, you'll have to see it to find out, but suffice it to say that the wacky Sycamore clan provides plenty of fireworks, literally and figuratively, along with lots of belly laughs, genuine charm and sheer sweetness.

Yes, you can have it all at "You Can't Take It With You," now playing at Warren's 2nd Story Theatre through Aug. 2. And remember, summer lovers, it never rains inside the theater.