Our recent production of Cinderella was a rousing success! Starring Megan Frandsen and Daniel Stirland, the audience laughed, cried, and clapped.
Written by Javen Tanner, a contemporary playwright
“Goodness always outlasts the gauntlet of all evil. And this is why no evil can prevail. No matter how massive the faceless stones that mix within the solid pack of earth, the sun and rain will freckle them with flowers, and crack their hearts, and make them crack a smile, with nothing but the gentle push of petals.”
This is a new version of a very old story- in fact, two very old stories. One is the tale of Cinderella who is dominated by an evil stepmother and her two daughters, but with the help of a fairy godmother manages to go to a ball and meet a prince, and then live happily ever after. The other is the chronicle of Hamlet, whose uncle has killed Hamlet’s father and married Hamlet’s mother in order to seize control of the kingdom. Hamlet’s quest is spurred by a visit from his ghostly father and ends in bloody vengeance. The Cinderella folklore has many versions, though most conclude with some form of retributive justice, which in some versions can be quite brutal. This new version of Cinderella deftly combines these two texts in exciting and unexpected ways. How will this version end? Will Cinderella get her revenge?
[I never wish to sing again as I used to . . .]
I never wish to sing again as I used to, when two new eyes could
always stain the sea, of tangent worlds, indolent as callows, and the clock
went backward for a skip, to rise, to set.
Some will twine grass to fit in a thimble, some will carve bread to
mend a craggy wall, some in the slantest midnight cry for sleep. When
the pitch-owl swallows the moon, what welt will show it? Sighing helps
nothing, raspberries raw and green, in the form of a heart
imperfectly divided. A wave grows sharper close to the shore. Some
own words like strips of scape and summon. It is possible to suffer even
in the sun. And race the steep noon to its highest, hoary gate. Stares
drop under the sky; silence of a windslap; and a scar drifts out of air to
stand whistling:
She who listens poorly will always be calling. She who sounds silence
drowns with the dumb. She who cuts her hands off must drink with her tongue.
-Karen Volkman
Special Thanks
Glenn Fox, Kyle Myrick, Tami Thomas, the Art Club, Rob Schmidt, Kristine Hirschi,
Brandi Hall, and the parents of the cast and crew! Thank you!
Cast
Cinderella Megan Frandsen
Claudia Darlin Beatty
Rosy Katie Pectol
Gilda Bethany Byrd
Oliver Daniel Stirland
Hero Alayna Wilson
Bernadette Anna Gundestrup
Marcella Bekah Leavitt
King Fraxinus Kai Demedicis
Queen Ashley Walker
The Ghost Lily Teta
Commodore Ashbury Alex Walling
Perrot Eric Peterson
Von Mises Rayce Buhanin
Eunomia Kayla Neilson
Constance Kadance Holm
Imogen Story Sanders
Servants & ball guests William Hardinger, Bryson Winegar, Jordy Sanchez, Jamie Van Dam, Lincoln Beatty, Ben Admodt, Isaac LeBaron, Shaleen Beecher, Alyssa LeBaron, Avery Reynolds, Eva Blaser,Susanna Jiles, Kate Erickson, Alicen Arnold, Elise Clark, Olivia Young, Madilyn Welch, Kendall Hess, Lily Roulstone, Kysaija Larson, Kinley Richardson, Liberty Beatty