With almost 100 members in the cast of Cinderella, keeping up with every costume came with its challenges.

Lost socks, shoes, and hair pieces were spread from the drill team gym to the scene shop.

But the real challenge was figuring out how to provide hundreds of costume pieces in the first place— especially when you have to scramble at the last minute.

“We had an incredible opportunity to work with a professional costumer, and we spent months planning with her. We were very excited,” senior Kaylynn Sharp said. “But, after some unresolvable issues, she decided not to costume our show and left us with only two weeks to find costumes.”

Typically, theatre students start rehearsing in costumes a month out from the show to allow the cast to get comfortable and to allow time for alterations.

But with just two weeks until the show, parents had to step in to help.

“When we were less than a week away from the show, we were coming up to the school all weekend to try on costume pieces,” junior Rhoda Clements said. “All the moms were up there sewing and helping constantly.”

After searching for days, Director Lisa Newton found a collection of costumes from a rental company in Houston. Kaylynn’s mom, Mendy Sharp, took off work to drive ten hours and bring the costumes back.

“We couldn’t have pulled this off without the directors and the parents,” Kaylynn said. “The parents are huge heroes in this story.”

Even with the stress of the situation, the cast knew the only way to figure out a solution was to work together.

“We had to brainstorm what we would do if the rental companies weren’t able to provide everything we needed,” Rhoda said. “We had to get creative and find some of our old costumes we had in storage and recreate better versions.”

After weeks of anxiety and fear that they wouldn’t have everything they needed for a beautiful show, through lots of tears and hard work, they persevered.

“As terrible as the situation was, it was incredible to watch a negative experience unify the cast,” Kaylynn said. “It strengthened our ability to adapt and support one another.”