At Your Cue

Mauve Estelle Cervantes, a graduating Theater Arts student and one of her conservatory's most promising theater actresses, has spent four years preparing for her final bow. When auditions open for the Original Intercollegiate Stage Production created for this year's Annual Intercollegiate Arts Celebration, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to prove herself before directors, talent scouts, and the industry she's worked tirelessly to join.

Everything is going according to plan-until the production loses its leading man.

With rehearsals already underway and months of preparation on the line, the faculty makes an unexpected decision: cast Diether Lukas Andrada, a graduating Architecture student from a partnering university and the brilliant mind behind the production's award-winning stage design. The problem? He isn't an actor. He never auditioned. And he'd much rather spend his days refining blueprints than standing under a spotlight.

Forced to share the stage, Estelle finds herself paired with the one person she never would have chosen. Diether, meanwhile, is simply trying to survive the production, finish his capstone project, and make it to graduation without embarrassing himself in front of a packed theater.

Yet the more time they spend together, the more complicated things become. It's difficult to stay frustrated with someone who's always there when everything goes wrong and even harder to ignore how naturally they seem to find their way back to each other when it does.

As opening night approaches and graduation draws near, Estelle and Diether are forced to face the reality that the production bringing them together has an ending date. After all, it was only supposed to be a show.

But some stories aren't meant to end with a final bow. Sometimes, the best ones begin at your cue.