Mouse Review: The Left Behind

In a high school theatre class, running through improvisatory exercises, the teacher (David Hyde Pierce) coaches his students as they mill around the room. First, what does your public self look like? Most students throw their arms wide, all performative bigness. Only one student, Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer), takes the opposite posture, curling her body in, taking up less space, not more. Then the teacher prompts the opposite: What does your private self look like? The effect is the same on the students, only in reverse: To a one, they become smaller, sadder versions of themselves – save Minnie. As stark as a light switch flipped, Minnie expands, becomes lighter, is lit up. Minnie has some experience with living in a shadow. Her best friend Callie (Chloe Coleman) is a starburst of charisma, lovely and animated and always the center of attention.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.