“Cindy & Julie”

A row of chairs, stacks of last month’s magazines, a receptionist’s desk and a basic lamp gave the audience a clear impression of the setting. The directors’, seniors Gray Whitaker-Castaneda and Vivian Johnson, simple staging of “Cindy & Julie” immediately brought the audience into the sterile and typical environment of a waiting room. Cinderella, who now goes by Cindy, was brought to the 21st century by senior Ellie Dawson-Moore. Not in her signature light blue ball gown, Cindy waits to see her therapist in a bright blue velour tracksuit and knee-high white boots. While Cindy impatiently flips through all the reading material available to her, Juliet Montague (ninth grader Maddie Pierce)–now Julie–walks in. Julie’s arrival surprises both Cindy and the audience, as she is thought to be dead. Julie strikes up a conversation with the celebrity that is Cindy, and explains how she and Romeo secretly faked their death. The two discuss the shortcomings in their relationships, especially the disappointment they feel in finding out their partners were not who they believed them to be.

Whitaker-Castaneda and Johnson’s close-up look at what happens after happily ever after provoked thought and reflection from the audience regarding the stories that are constantly told, especially to kids. By giving Cindy the chance to explain to a young woman (ninth grader Cerena Karmaliani) that love and relationships often involve disappointment, Whitaker-Castaneda and Johnson clearly deliver their message to the audience.