Germantown Academy (GA)’s renowned theater club, Belfry, has selected the next two productions it will take on during the 2026-2027 school year. For the fall play, they are set to perform “You Can’t Take it With You,” a Pulitzer Prize winner from 1937. Meanwhile, next year’s spring musical is slated to be the more well-known “The Addams Family.”
The selection process for these shows considers several factors, with Mr. Jared Eberlein, Belfry Theatre Director; Mr. Jon Timmons, US Choral Director and Ms. Ann Esposito, US Performance Arts Associate Teacher all weighing in on the final decision with their respective fields of expertise.
“I think [the decision] is multi-pronged. We’re often taking a look at what we’ve done over the past couple of years, we’re looking at who is coming up through the ranks in terms of who we have that has taken on a lot of responsibility as far as casting goes,” Mr. Jared Eberlein, Belfry Director, said. “When it comes to the musicals, [we look at] what kind of voice types we have, and how that’s going to shake out what the makeup of that is.”
The fall play, “You Can’t Take it With You,” is about Allison, a woman who invited her potential in-laws over for dinner to bless her marriage. However, not everything goes as planned, and it becomes a chaotic and comedic night.
“I chose this play because it was funny, it was old, and it gave an opportunity for a lot of quirky actors and quirky personality traits to be portrayed,” Mr. Eberlein said. “Peter and the Starcatcher was a crazy, all-over-the-world type of journey play. This takes place in one place, in one apartment.”
While most students are likely not as familiar with it, many are still excitedly approaching the production with an open mind.
“I’ve honestly never heard of the play that we’re doing, but I read the description,” Paige Sipler ‘27 said. “It does sound pretty cool.”
Meanwhile, “The Addams Family” is based on the highly acclaimed movie of the same name about an eccentric, and at times dark-humored, family.
“We picked the Addams Family for a lot of those reasons […] doing something different from Shrek or Mamma Mia, still something that people knew, and we think that we’re gonna have really a lot of fun with it,” Mr. Eberlein said.
Mr. Eberlein is not the only one eager for next year’s spring musical selection, however.
“I’m actually super excited, because I think with the students we have in the cast, it could be really good,” Sipler said. “I have been listening to the songs, it’s such a cool show.”
While both the fall play and spring musical feature the theme of atypical families, Mr. Eberlein hopes that students can bring their own distinct perspective to the shows to make them unique.
“What we learned through these two shows is that they’re very similar in their story and plot lines, and they’re very different, and so my hope is that we are encouraging students to look at the idea of variations on a theme,” Mr. Eberlein said. “That idea that if you’re doing it, if you’re telling the story and you’re really telling it from your perspective, then automatically it becomes a new thing.”
As many members of the cast and crew wait in anticipation until they can return to their stages and soundboards, audience members will have to wait even longer to view what has been promised to be two more elite-level performances.