Laughs from the Depression

Castleton State College will be getting the Broadway treatment for its latest show, “You Can’t Take It With You.”

In her CSC directorial debut, Broadway actress Susan Haefner will be dusting the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy with her big-league expertise, standing in this semester to teach acting and direct the show. The Theatre Arts Department production runs Nov. 12 to 16 at the Casella Theater.

Temporarily replacing Harry McEnerny, the head of the department, who is visiting London with students for the semester, Haefner, a Weston Playhouse member since 1991, steers a cast of 17. The cast includes four teachers, she says, to be as age specific as possible in the show.

The three-act, lighthearted period comedy takes place in a big house near Columbia University, owned by a kooky New York City family.

Like so many great plays, “You Can’t Take It With You” provokes thought and invites audience members to look inside and examine their own beliefs and values — all in between belly laughs, of course.

Haefner says the 1936 comedy — which was made into an Academy Award-winning movie in 1938, directed by Frank Capra — was written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

Haefner says the play has some stunning synergies with today’s unsteady economy and financial hardships.

“It is a comedy, but it has a big message for all of us,” she said.

“The whole play is about making choices about what you want to do rather than what you have to do to get ahead in life. It’s very parallel to what’s happening with our economy now, the rich versus the poor, and what we value in life.”

Haefner, 43, who has been acting professionally for 22 years, said she fell in love with Vermont when she came to Manchester’s Southern Vermont Arts Center to do her first show in Vermont, “The Fantasticks,” in 1988. That led to being introduced to members at the Weston Playhouse, and she joined the company three years later, finding excuses to come back time and time again. She has since done 16 shows at Weston, and directed three cabaret shows there. She is currently directing her third cabaret at CSC’s Fireside Café also.

Haefner, who also sings and dances — including tap — on stage, has performed in three Broadway shows: “State Fair” in 1996, “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 2002 and “42nd Street” from 2003-05. She also performed in “Damn Yankees” starring Jerry Lewis on a national tour and in London.

Her early love for the stage caused her to quit university at SUNY Ferdonia in 1985 to perform at Walt Disney World, where she performed in a dinner show three times a day, including playing the part of “Flora” for the much-loved “Hoop-De-Doo Musical Review.”

“My time backstage there I spent doing Shakespeare monologues. I realized I would much rather be studying acting.” So she went back to school to do a master of fine arts degree in acting at Florida State University.

Haefner said the cast portrays a bevy of characters who are “eccentric” and “goofy at times.”

“But they’re just having a ball … There’s a nice pocket of very funny actors who are really skilled comedians and they’re doing wonderful, very specific work,” she said. “I do cabarets so comedy is very important to me.”

She says much work has been put into the multilevel set, and prop-collecting took on a life of its own.

“It’s such a prop-heavy show. We are beg, borrowing and stealing everything we can find from the whole State of Vermont,” she laughed.

Haefner describes the premise of “You Can’t Take It With You” as a reaction to the Great Depression.

“It’s about a family who chooses to live a life not dictated by Wall Street.”

She throws out a line in the play that resonates.

“How many of us would be willing to settle when we’re young for what we eventually get.”

The Rochester, N.Y.-born Haefner marvels at the parallels between the show and what’s happening in the world today. She said she decided upon the show before the financial meltdown that took over Wall Street as of late, but then the show really became relevant.

“I chose the show for personal reasons,” she said. “And then the economy went crazy. I live in New York City and it gets harder and harder to keep up … people there are constantly climbing the ladder and trying to get ahead. I know a lot of people who are struggling to get ahead and not concentrating on what they want. And also with the election, and a new administration coming up, I chose it based on values versus what you think you have to do to get ahead.”

Haefner said this is her first time directing the show, but she acted in it 10 years ago in a production in Virginia, starring as Essie, the ballet dancer.

“I’m saying all this serious stuff, but it’s a hilarious comedy,” she said. “I believe the best comedies have this type of heart beneath it.”

“You Can’t Take It With You” takes the stage at CSC’s theater nightly at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 through 16, with a 2 p.m. matinee Nov. 16.

Tickets are $10 for the public, $5 for the college community.

For tickets and more information, call the box office at 468-1119.

Contact Jennifer Bill at jennifer.bill@rutlandherald.com.