According to senior Kayla Gorenstein, acting is her “life” — and it shows.

This year, Gorenstein is serving as assistant director for the drama department’s first play, “You Can’t Take It With You.”

“The play’s about a boy and a girl, and they fall in love and they want to get married,” Gorenstein said, “but her family is really crazy… [and] his family works on Wall Street, really upright, really rich.”

Currently, Gorenstein spends 22 hours a week working on the play, including six hours on Saturdays. As of now, she has helped choose the cast and regularly communicates with the stage crew. The purpose of this is to prepare her, and the other students, to run the last play of the year, which is student-run.

“As of right now, I was in the audition room when we were trying to cast people and I’m just kind of there for a second opinion,” Gorenstein said. “[Drama director Don Enoch is] the director, and he’s a real-life director, and he’s done this before so he treats me like a real-life assistant director.”

Gorenstein joined the drama department as a sophomore, as its “family aspect” attracted her. But she also acts outside of school.

“I’ve actually been professionally outside of school — outside of school plays — since I was 8,” Gorenstein said. “It’s died down a little because of high school and college… [but] I’ve been in a commercial and a bunch of student films, so it’s in my life.”

Gorenstein intends on maintaining acting as a hobby while pursuing a career in psychology.

“I’m definitely the therapist during Hell Week [the week preceding the show’s premiere], or during drama at all,” she said.

In addition to drama, Gorenstein is also a member of the choir. She is, as she put it, a member of “anything performing-artsy.”

“I’m in the choir room, I’m in the Pavilion, I’m in the band room just because we use the band room,” Gorenstein said. “That’s like my building.”