After spending the last three months resuming their usual identities, the actors of Germantown Academy’s Upper School are taking on new roles this fall. The Arts Center’s curtains will be opening once more in just a few months to welcome the Belfry Theatre Club’s latest show: “You Can’t Take It With You.”
“It’s a play full of quirky characters, and I’m excited for the students that I know that we have, and some I don’t know that are going to join us,” Belfry Theatre Director Jared Eberlein said. “I’m excited for them to have an opportunity to really delve into those quirks.”
Written in 1936, “You Can’t Take It With You” is a play centered around two very different families: the Kirbys and the Sycamores. While the Kirbys are wealthy and traditional, the Sycamores are much more interested in finding joy in their eccentric hobbies.
“I think it’s a really cool play because you get to see a lot of different perspectives of the time period,” Cole Jean-Louis ‘27 said.
Before beginning the process of auditions and preparation, Belfry members could elect to attend the club’s first-ever Preseason Hang, an event intended as a low-pressure way for those hoping to be involved in the play to get together. The Belfry Officer Board, the club’s collection of student leaders, hosted the Preseason Hang on Friday, Aug. 28. This year’s Belfry Officers are Jean-Louis, Paige Sipler ‘27, Olivia Dowling ‘27, Chase Winter ‘27, Anushka Sen ‘28 and Bella Burnett ‘28.
“The officers are doing an awesome job,” Abhay Kumaran ‘27 said. “They’re super invested in Belfry.”
After the optional preseason gathering, Belfry’s next event, auditions for roles in the play, began Sep. 1. The show is set to premiere on Friday, Nov. 6, two weeks earlier than last year. Overall, preparation for “You Can’t Take It With You” is on a tighter production timeline.
Many club members were willing to reunite with their peers despite the new schedule’s time obligations consuming parts of their summer.
“I’m really excited to be with the cast again and get those creative juices flowing,” Sipler said. “All the people that we have contribute so many different things to the show, and it’s just such an awesome vibe to be around.”
Once auditions conclude and roles are cast, the actors will be busy learning their characters, memorizing lines and figuring out their blocking, the term for the planning of where actors need to be on stage.
However, the cast members are not the only ones committed to preparing for this show.
“On the tech side, it’s about making sure we can do as much as we can in terms of designing lights, sound and building a set before we have the actors come in,” Sen said. “And then when we hit Tech Week [the last week before opening night], it’s all about making sure everything fits together and goes smoothly.”
From novice freshmen working a soundboard for the first time to veteran seniors preparing for their final role in one of GA’s plays, Belfry members with a variety of interests and skill levels are coming together to produce their version of “You Can’t Take It With You” this fall.
“I want to leave it [Belfry] better than I found it,” Sipler said. “I feel like we’ve been able to do that across my time at the GA Upper School, but this last year I really do want to end it on a bang.”