You Can't Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, 1937
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, 1941
Both are well known escapist comedies plays written during the a golden age of the American theatre, conceived more for enjoyment than deep analysis and produced against the backdrop of the Depression and the years before World War II. Both typify the farce genre, with a dose of romantic comedy and social satire thrown in. Both were made into popular movies by that great American optimist, Frank Capra (You Can't Take It With You, already a Pulitzer Prize winner as a play, won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director).
Thematically, the central conflict in both plays revolves around a 'sane' protagonist who becomes caught up in the 'insanity' of a family he or she loves. However, the audience quickly sees that the "screwballs have their world in order; it's everyone else who is disoriented" (Ethan Moran, American Theatre, 1981). The two plays share several themes: difference should be accepted and celebrated, family in any iteration wins all, society should not be permitted to define success and failure, happiness and misery or even right and wrong for the individual. You Can't Take It With You presents contrasting versions of the American dream', with Grandpa's version of doing what one wishes winning out over the Kirby family's socially acceptable version. Arsenic and Old Lace presents a dark comedy, exaggerating the grotesque until it becomes absurdly funny, and in so doing warns us against being so self-absorbed as to miss what's really happening.
What's really interesting about this project for middle schoolers is:
Both plays are among the top ten produced by high schools, and as such they are family-friendly, age-appropriate (generally) and very fun to both watch and perform.
These plays provide a huge range of roles, allowing kids to try on good, bad, young, old characters like a bunch of different hats. These roles will further the theatre skills (building a character, understanding subtext, motivation, scene construction, even dialects and accents) that these older students will take with them when they leave Gordon.
There are strong, dynamic people on stage in these plays, including female romantic leads who have depth.
Actors will be stage crew for the play they are not 'in', broadening their theatre knowledge and requiring that they support others who have the limelight.