Victoria RapisarldiStaff Writer

This year’s fall drama, presented by the Northstar Playmakers, is You Can’t Take it With You. It is a roman-tic comedy that portrays the message that you should do what you love and stick with it. The story is based around an idealist family living in the 1930s.

The main characters in this play are husband and wife Paul and

Penelope Sycamore and their two daughters, Essie and Alice. Though they both have jobs, the parents are mainly focused on their daughters’ happiness. Essie has dreams of be-coming a professional ballerina and, despite her lack of talent, she has continued training for eight years.

“Essie is really energetic and

fun, so I’m glad to have gotten the part. It is great to be a part of North-star,” sophomore Kate Greenberg, who will be playing Essie, said.

Essie’s sister, Alice, tends to call herself the normal one in the family and is often embarrassed by their actions. She falls in love with Tony Kirby but feels that marriage between them would never work because Tony comes from an upper class family, and she comes from a

family of idealists. The cast follows the original

script of the play, written in 1936 by George Kaufman and Moss Hart. The play won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for drama and opened at the Booth Theater for 837 performances. “It is like the 1930s version of Meet the Parents,” senior Northstar Playmak-

ers member Richard Westfahl said.Director Mrs. Hamara is ex-

tremely excited and promises that the performance will be different from others Northstar has put on. “This is virtually our first student de-signed show,” Hamara said.

For the first time, the fall drama has two student artistic directors, seniors Emily Eby and Stephanie Preising. They will be designing an original logo and flyers for the pro-grams, which has never been done before. In addition, students are de-signing the sets, costumes, lighting, and sound.

The performance will include a full set with all of the walls, staircas-es, and doors entirely designed and painted by students. This has proven to be a challenge to students, because they cannot use modern clothing and furniture; everything has to be set in the 1930 art nouveau style.

“You Can’t Take it With You has been a pleasure to work on thus far. The cast has shown a lot of talent and progress during rehearsals with the help of our director, Mrs. Hamara,” senior technical member Dominique

Sabaoan said. Being a part of the fall drama is

a great way for the cast to meet new people that share their interests. “My mom made her Broadway debut just after high school and it has always been a dream for me to per form like her. The fall drama and spring mu-sical are a really great environment

for me to be on stage and have fun dancing, singing, and acting like my mom.” junior Alexa Kapit said.

The fall drama will be per-formed November 9, 10, 16 and 17. Admission is $7 for students and $10 for adults. It shows promise of being a good show so bring your friends and come check it out!

32 LimeLightOctOber 2012

Fresh ideas in drama

Nicole FrederickAssociate Editor

This year’s underclassmen showcase is expected to be Friday, October 26 in the auditorium. The showcase will consist of a vari-ety of individual and group acts, which can include anything from monologues to dance routines. Other options for performances are singing, playing an instrument, or any additional form of perform-ing arts. Tickets will be sold at the door at a yet to be determined price. Profits from ticket sales will go to future productions and help pay for the expenses of costumes, props, and weeknight dinners for the cast of the spring musical.

The idea for an underclass-men showcase started three years ago, and was initially limited to freshmen. Its purpose was to give new students a high school debut, and to help boost their confidence

onstage. The show was intended to be very soon after the school year began, so that freshmen would have a chance to be in the limelight before potentially audi-tioning for the fall drama.

“When I was a freshman, the freshmen showcase was a great way for incoming students like me to perform and make themselves known in Westhill’s communi-ty. This is the third year that the Northstar Playmakers have orga-nized it, and I’m glad they opened it up to sophomores as well. It’s a wonderful experience that high-lights the talent in our school and is definitely worth being a part of,” junior Claudia Coprio said.

Similarly to many other ac-tivities, there is often “senior priority” in terms of lead roles in shows Northstar presents, so un-derclassmen do not usually get their own solos. In addition, it can be intimidating to perform for

the first time alongside more ex-perienced older students. By hav-ing an underclassmen showcase, younger students get the chance to be featured, as well as obtain good practice for being onstage for future shows.

“I was involved in the fresh-men showcase last year and it was fun and very nerve-racking. I sang Lady Gaga’s ‘You and I.’ I had thought it would be in the audi-torium, but it ended up being in room 118 because there weren’t as many people as we’d expected,” sophomore Marycate Muller said. This year, the Northstar Playmak-ers hope for an even better turnout than that of previous years.

“I’ve always felt that the freshmen showcase was a great way to transition the freshmen into the high school theater envi-ronment due to its accepting and helpful nature, between the help from upperclassmen to the sup-

port from peers. Expanding it to an underclassmen showcase will do that even more, opening the

night to more student performanc-es,” senior Zoë DePreta, President of Northstar Playmakers, said.

Underclassmen take the stage

Northstar presents a romantic comedy for this year’s fall drama

YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU This year’s fall drama incorporates elements of comedy and romance while exploring a theme of individ-ualism as it follows the exploits of an idealistic family from the 1930s.

SHOWCASING TALENT Sophomores Laura Felenstein and Madeline Bria practice their act for the upcoming underclassmen showcase, which is scheduled for October 26.

Laura Felenstein / News Editor

Jessica Freedman / Illustrator

“You Can’t Take it With You has been a pleasure to work on thus far. The cast has shown a lot of talent and progress during rehearsals with the help of our director, Mrs. Hamara.” —Dominique Sabaoan, ’13