(Source: April Borjon, Gazette)
There’s an unspoken rule at North Shore High School: know your place.
For Regina George and the Plastics, that place is firmly at the top. In their kingdom of classrooms and a lunch cafeteria, power comes dressed in pink, and loyalty is as fragile as the latest rumor.
For everyone else, including newcomer Cady Heron, the rules of popularity are hard to read and even harder to follow, shifting with every lunch table conversation.
Helping make sense of it all are Janice and Damian, guiding The Colorado Springs School audience as narrators of a production that feels both exaggerated and all too real in “Mean Girls: The Musical.”
Transforming the Louisa Performing Arts Center into their own version of the 2004 film and the Broadway production, CSS Upper School students will recreate iconic moments like Cady’s house party and Regina’s personality-altering bus accident for three performances, Thursday through Saturday.“I feel like the audience or any teenagers that come see the production are going to see themselves in at least some of the characters,” CSS theater director Jonathan Andujar said. “Everyone who’s had that feeling of being an outsider looking in, or being an insider trying to keep your group of friends, can relate. From things like gossiping on social media to creating new friendships, I feel like Cady’s journey is a really great representation of what it might be like for a new kid to find their place in school.”
With only 14 cast members and a small stage crew, the show chronicles the chaos of Oct. 3 and the semester that follows, free and open to audiences.
“The message of the show is acceptance and inclusion, and they’re really doing a great job bringing everyone into the fold,” Andujar said. “We have some new people in the cast that typically don’t do theater, and it’s been really great to see the different groups from campus come in and make the show happen together.”
Students have spent months working with a vocal coach and the school’s choir teacher, building the production into a full-scale musical experience, alongside a handful of major dance numbers and tap sequences.
For senior Tristan Kumar, who plays Regina and Cady’s love interest Aaron Samuels, the musical adds a new layer of energy to performing.
“The singing and performance aspect of musicals honestly adds a whole new spin that I look forward to every single time,” Kumar said. “While I know just acting necessitates more skill and talent, it’s always so fun to sing and dance for these musicals, no matter how ‘whimsical’ it might be.”As Kumar takes on one of the performance’s most recognizable roles, he’s also preparing for a major step beyond the CSS stage.
Recently accepted into New York University Tisch School of the Arts — one of the most competitive acting programs in the country — Kumar will soon trade the halls of CSS for a spot under NYU’s most notable stage lights.“
The NYU Tisch School of the Arts is the most competitive program next to Juilliard in the country,” Andujar said. “Tristan has played many characters on our stage, and now he’s going to get to do that in New York.”
While “Mean Girls: The Musical” explores what it means to find your place in high school, Kumar is about to begin that same journey at the college level, over 1,700 miles away.
"I almost fell out of my chair in joy when I found out,” Kumar said. “I’m really excited to get a new spin on my education and meet new people with whom I can connect deeply. Alternatively, I’m nervous living in the big city, and I’m also scared that I won’t be good enough. I hope, as time passes and I find my footing, my nerves settle and I find where I belong.
”Despite hearing “you can’t sit with us” echo off stage, audiences still have the chance to see Kumar where it all started, performing alongside the cast that’s bringing the drama of “Mean Girls” to Colorado Springs.“I could honestly point to everything in my life that’s led me to this point, but if I had to pick some, it’d have to be my theater director, Mr. Andujar, and my family,” Kumar said.
“Without Mr. Andujar’s guidance, I would never in a million years be able to try my hand at acting, let alone pursue it in my higher education."
Louisa Performing Arts Center Shows:
April 23, 2026 7:00 p.m.
April 24, 2026 7:00 p.m.
April 25, 2026 2:00 p.m.
-Article by April Borjon, The Gazette
