<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3tkegb_0tR7fNsr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3tkegb_0tR7fNsr00" width="1078" height="719" >Although the play “You Can’t Take It With You” is nearly 90 years old, Nicole Amsler sees the comedic elements holding up.“It’s a comedy with a lot of farce in it,” Amsler said. “It’s a lot of chaos. It’s very family friendly.” Amsler is directing Main Street Productions’ presentation of the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s play from May 30 to June 9 at the Basile Westfield Playhouse. The play debuted in 1936 and was made into a movie in 1938.Amsler said the plot centers around an eccentric family’s daughter hoping her family can pretend to be normal when her wealthy future in-laws visit for dinner. They come on the wrong night and havoc ensues.“The daughter loves the fact they’re not normal but at the same time she wants to impress her future in-laws,” Amsler said. A Noblesville resident, Amsler has seen the movie but not the stage version. She said the play is very different.“I like the strangeness of it,” she said. “Everybody isn’t interested in working. They all have their own hobbies. One wants to be a ballerina, one wants to be a novelist. They make candies and make bombs out of fireworks. One collects snakes.”The challenge is there are a lot of people on the stage and it’s very prop heavy, Amsler said. There are 18 characters with one performer playing two characters, so there are a lot of costumes as well.“This is the only (area) theater I could imagine it happening at,” she said because of the large stage. “There is a lot of air traffic control needed.”Fishers resident Hannah Partridge, 28, plays Alice, the daughter who is getting married. “My family watched older movies when I was growing up and I saw the movie with Jimmy Stewart and directed by Frank Capra,” Partridge said. “I was familiar with the story and thought it would be a lot of fun. I just came out to audition for any role. I was happy to get Alice because I connected with her. I also come from a big family that has its own quirks, so it’s been a fun part to play. It’s just such a fun cast of characters. My character is more of a straight man in the show. It’s fun to watch everyone up to their antics. My character is trying to hold everyone together desperately.”Partridge, who grew up in Brown County and is a Ball State University graduate, acted when she was younger and returned to it after moving to Fishers.“I usually do a couple of shows a year,” she said. “It’s nice to pick and choose what you want to do.”Cara Olson plays Essie, Alice’s older sister.“She is not supposed to be a good ballerina, which works out for me because I don’t do ballet very well,” Olson said. The role is the one Olson wanted when she auditioned.“She’s just such a fun character,” Olson said. “She lives in a happy world. She loves everyone and everyone loves her. She is happy to be herself and just wants to follow her dreams. She doesn’t let the outside world bother her. She lives in an optimistic bubble.”Olson, a mental health therapist, acted at Valparaiso High School and returned to acting by taking a class.“Acting was my first love,” she said. “I decided I missed it and I wanted to do this again. My kids are getting older and I could be away more.”Olson took a Meisner acting class from 2021 to 2023 at the Phoenix Theatre Culture Centre in Indianapolis.“I felt like I had a good foundation for community theater,” she said.Indianapolis resident Lou Cavallari, who plays the Russian ballet instructor, also took a long break from acting.This is the first time Cavallari, 54, has acted in a play in 30 years. He played the same character in a production while getting his master’s degree at Ohio State University.“I like how the character has grown up as I’ve grown up,” Cavallari said.For more, visit westfieldplayhouse.org.</div></body>

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Director takes on challenge of presenting ‘You Can’t Take it With You’

Although the play “You Can’t Take It With You” is nearly 90 years old, Nicole Amsler sees the comedic elements holding up. “It’s a comedy with a lot of farce in it,” Amsler said. “It’s a lot of chaos. It’s very family friendly.”

Director takes on challenge of presenting ‘You Can’t Take it With You’

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