Smile

What makes Ka’Lena Cuevas smile? “Only the worst cliches come to mind when trying to answer this question, but it reminds me of one of my favorite Shakespeare plays: ‘The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief,’” said the Fishers resident, who is often found producing local community theater productions. In 2022, she earned Encore Association’s 2022 Awards for Best Production of a Comedy for Basile Westfield Playhouse’s “Rumors” and Best Production of a Drama for the Playhouse’s “Mice and Men.” Before that, she earned Best Production of a Comedy for the Playhouse’s 2019 “Lie, Cheat and Genuflect.” This year, she’s been nominated for Best Production of a Drama for Main Street Productions’ “August: Osage County,” directed by Brent Wooldridge, at Basile Westfield Playhouse and Best Major Supporting Actress in a Comedy for “Crimes of the Heart,” directed by Jen Otterman, at The Belfry Theatre. She’s currently producer of Main Street Productions’ “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” directed by Andrea Odle, now on stage through Sunday at Westfield playhouse. She is also co-producer with Joni Corbett of Noblesville Cultural Arts Commission’s Noblesville Shakespeare in the Park comedy, “As You Like It,” tonight through Saturday at Federal Hill Commons in Noblesville. Cuevas performed in NCAC’s 30th Shakespeare in the Park. Cuevas, who is currently expecting a baby boy, was born and raised in New York City (Chelsea, Manhattan) and when she was a teenager moved with her family to Oahu, Hawaii, until she left for college, “which is what brought me here (to Indiana),” said Cuevas, who graduated from DePauw University. After finishing grad school on the East Coast, she moved to Indianapolis, then Fishers. Why theater? “I’ve always loved theater. My parents would take my siblings and me to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows growing up in NYC, and I still remember those,” said Cuevas, who took acting and playwriting classes in college and majored in English. Read more about Shakespeare in the Park in the Betsy Reason column in today’s edition of The Times.