The next few weeks of shows weren't without their faults- Kasey forgot some choreography, Dylan got strep throat, and Elizabeth sprained her ankle. But otherwise, things were going smoothly. Everyone was at the top of their game. 

Every night, Kasey was just happy to be onstage, doing what she loved. 

As Broadway.com's April activity of the month, a 'powerful women of Broadway' dinner was scheduled. 

Kasey was stunned when she received her invitation, slipped in between envelopes of fan mail.

To Kasey Winslow,

As one of the influential actresses in the spotlight of Broadway, you are invited to the Powerful Women of Broadway Night, hosted by Broadway.com. This will take place on April 19, beginning at 5:00. Activities include dinner, a livestream, and questions from fans. This event will be filmed for Broadway.com's YouTube channel.

Please take this as a way to mingle with your fellow actresses, and to spread the amazing power of women!

R.S.V.P. by April 8, 2018 to Paul Wontorek. More information will be send out after you confirm your attendance.

Sincerely,

the Broadway.com Staff

Kasey didn't hesitate. The idea of a night with her fellow actresses was an exciting prospect- one that she would never, ever turn down. It was a honor to even be considered as one of the inspiring actresses on Broadway.

~~~~~~~~

A few weeks after she confirmed that she was attending, she found herself getting dressed for the night.

She'd been instructed to wear something comfortable but nice, so she picked out a pair of nice jeans, a blue flannel shirt, and boots. She put her hair half-up, half-down, still somewhat curly from the show. 

When she arrived at the location, she was ushered to a sitting area with squishy chairs. A deck of 'Apples to Apples' sat on the table, with a bunch of candy and chips. Some of the other actresses were already there.

"Kasey!" Renee exclaimed, standing up as soon as she saw her. 

"Renee, I didn't know that you were going to be here!" Kasey said, laughing as Renee swung her around. 

"You never asked," Renee said. "I had a hunch that you'd be invited, though."

Kasey sat down between Renee and Laura Dreyfuss. "Hey, Laura," Kasey said. 

"How are you, Kasey?" Laura asked, hugging her. 

"I'm good, how about you?" 

"Excited," Laura laughed. 

The other actresses started to file in- Denee Benton, Christy Altomare, Jessie Mueller, Kara Lindsay, and Laura Osnes were the others who arrived. 

"Alright," Olivia, their interviewer, said. "We're going live in two minutes. When we do, we're going to introduce each of you and say which shows you're known for, or which show you're in. Either is fine. Or both."

"And, we're live!" Olivia exclaimed. "Welcome to the Women of Broadway Dinner! This is a new little theme we've started, but we're very excited to bring some of your favorite Broadway actresses in for some fun games and food. Of course, you guys can ask questions, too. We're going to start down here and they're going to introduce themselves, and tell you guys their favorite lipstick color to use for a show. Because they're powerful women on Broadway." 

"Hi, I'm Denee Benton, and I was Natasha in Great Comet," Denee said. "Um, my favorite color lipstick was called Cathedral, I think."

"My name's Kara Lindsay, and people probably know me from Newsies, Wicked, and I just left Beautiful," Kara announced, rubbing her hands together. "My lipstick for Wicked was called Pretty in Pink, which was funny because Glinda is obsessed with pink."

"That's actually great," Jessie laughed. "Um, Jessie Mueller, Waitress, Beautiful, Nice Work if You can Get it... And I wore this color called Apple Rose."

"I'm Laura Dreyfuss," Laura said. "I'm in Dear Evan Hansen, and I was also in Once. If I'm not lazy, I wear lipstick, but sometimes, to be honest, I don't because Zoe is in high school and isn't that dramatic of a person."

"Hi, my name's Kasey Winslow. I was in Wicked on the West End, then Hamilton, and now I'm in Frozen. I think my lipstick is called Dust, but I'm not sure."

"I'm Renee Elise Goldsberry, from Hamilton, Lion King, The Color Purple, and Rent. I wear Raspberry."

"Laura Osnes, Bandstand, Grease, Cinderella, Bonnie and Clyde, South Pacific, Carousel... I wear this lipstick called Strawberry Lemonade."

"My name's Christy Altomare, and I was in Carrie and Anastasia. I wear a color called French Apple."

"Alright, great! So, now that we've introduced everyone, we're playing Broadway themed 'Apples to Apples.' Available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon Prime. I think everyone should know how to play this, right?"

Everyone nodded, except Kasey. "Hold on, wait, wait, I haven't," Kasey laughed as Olivia began to deal out the cards. "It's not a thing in the UK."

"Kasey Winslow, you haven't played Apples to Apples?!" Renee demanded. "I was sure we'd played it with you during tech."

"No, I went to the Life squad, not the Apples to Apples squad."

"Alright, well, we're gonna educate you," Denee said, rubbing her hands together excitedly. "I feel like we're corrupting you."

"Oh, trust me, I've been corrupted from my British ways by almost everyone here," Kasey reassured Denee. "Including Renee and Laura."

"Basically, the green cards have a describing word on them. You're going to pick out the word from your hand that you think fits that word the best. Then someone else is going to judge them and pick the one they liked the best. Then you'll get the card if they picked your card," Denee said, demonstrating as she talked. 

"Makes sense," Kasey said. "I think I got it, I should be fine. I'll ask if I'm confused."

"We'll start the judging with Kara, and work our way around," Olivia instructed. "That way, Kasey will be the last to judge."

"The word is 'tragic,'" Kara announced.

Kasey flipped through her cards. She had 'Lion King', 'Ben Platt', 'Popular', 'Masquerade', and 'What'd I Miss'. 

She slid her 'Lion King' card over to Kara.

"By the way, you can advocate for or against any card you want, to try and get the judge to pick yours," Jessie added. "It can get pretty heated."

"Alright," Kasey said, nodding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

They played 'Apples to Apples' for about forty-five minutes. Laura Osnes was surprisingly competitive with the game- she advocated intensely for different cards, or against them, depending on what she was trying to do. Kara just submitted the silliest cards possible, but still ended up winning a few. Christy and Laura were the most serious players, along with Renee. Laura Dreyfuss and Denee would pick extremely strategically, based on who was judging. And Jessie would just try and confuse people as to what card she'd even put in. Kasey just decided that the best strategy was to pick a card and pray that it spoke to whoever was judging. Somehow. 

Ultimately, Laura Osnes won. Considering how intensely competitive she was, Kasey wasn't surprised.