On Sunday, November 9th, the cast and crew of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s Lost Girl took their final bows in the sold-out FSHA theater. Lost Girl, a play about first heartbreak written by Kimberly Belflower, recounts Wendy Darling’s adjustment to grown-up life after she returns from Neverland with Peter Pan. This month, Lost Girl came to life at FSHA, imbued with the authenticity of its adolescent cast and wisdom of its director.
Ceili Byrne ‘27 starred as Wendy, a young woman obsessed with recapturing the magic of her time with Peter Pan. When confronted by her strict mother, played by Gianna Lucio ‘26, a gruff detective, played by Lee Papadopoulos ‘28, and an eye-rolling therapist, played by Isabella Gonzalez ‘27, Wendy must accept that Peter Pan and her childhood are past her. Unfortunately, for Wendy, acceptance does not come easily. Byrne well captured Wendy’s struggle with adulthood through her insistently adolescent physicality; she flopped around the stage in the play’s first half, dreamily gazing at some far-off point where Wendy’s memories were. As the play progressed, however, Byrne’s movements conveyed an internal growth. Wendy’s posture stiffened. Her gaze sharpened. And when she at last closed her window, a symbol of her connection to Peter Pan, it was with the dignified grace of a new adult.
Dale Hancock ‘26, too, subtly depicted the journey from childhood to adulthood in her performance as Peter Pan. Youthful and mischievous in the play’s beginning, she sobered for a climactic scene as the grown-up Peter visiting Wendy. Still, Hancock’s performance hinted at the child still within, heightening Wendy’s struggle to accept their relationship as over.
As always in FSHA theater productions, everyone had the chance to shine. In the ensemble, Sydney Jerman ‘27, Olivia Lee ‘27, Brooke Koutsoukos ‘29, Iliana Molina-Marquez ‘27, and Ceci Molina-Marquez ‘29 echoed Wendy’s inner monologue alongside beautiful watercolors by art teacher Ms. Christina Orihuela, capturing her inner torment. Meanwhile, Eliana Ventura ‘27 contributed an impressively natural performance as Wendy’s new partner, exhausted by Wendy’s infatuation with Peter Pan. Meanwhile, the Lost Boys, played by Bennet Bostic ‘29, Leila Khodabakhshian ‘28, filled out the play’s dramatic action with refreshing humor. Bostic in particular, starring as Wendy’s admirer Slightly, renewed the audience’s attention in the second half in a hilarious love scene with Wendy. Also funny: Mia Cuevas ‘27, whose skillful performance as an overzealous fan of Wendy’s garnered both laughs and audience sympathy for her, Wendy, and all of Peter Pan’s “other girls”.
Never dwelling on successes for too long, the FSHA theater department has already begun preparing for the spring musical, Sweeney Todd. Nevertheless, images from Lost Girl still linger onstage, waiting to be painted over, their ending a new beginning for the FSHA performing arts.
