Join the Exeter-West Greenwich Sr. High Drama Club as they present Sonder: A Cabaret Story. Written and directed by EWG Senior Michelina Smith, Sonder challenges our tendency to judge a book by its cover. We often see the jock in high school as not having any brains, or the nerd as being a perfect goody-two-shoes. We label the mean girl as a bully and the awkward kid as a weirdo. We make automatic (and unconscious) judgments about the people around us, and we need to break this habit. This poignant and relevant piece deals with the good and the bad of navigating high school and is certainly relatable to everyone who is a teenager or has ever been one.

Sonder includes twelve songs, all containing high school themes, from twelve different musicals. However unlike a traditional cabaret, it is a story; it has numerous characters, a plot, and multiple conflicts. In essence, it is a musical without the traditional dancing and original music component. The word ‘sonder’ means, “the realization that each passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” In other words, every person that you see, meet, or interact with has his or her own story. Even though you might think you know every fact about a person, it doesn’t mean you know who they are. Until you get to know him or her, you’ve only scratched the surface of who that person truly is.  This original piece of work is sure to spark ideas about how acceptance and tolerance can benefit our lives and the world in the 21st century.