By John Lyle Belden

Do you miss your high school days? Or were you thankful to leave them behind?

These questions come to mind as we watch the three ladies of the play “Vanities,” the Off-Broadway hit by Jack Heifner presented by The Belfry Theatre at The Cat in Carmel, directed by Jen Otterman.

The title metaphor dominates the back of the stage: three mirrored dressing tables where the actors finish their makeup and will change wigs between scenes. Rather than spoil the stage “magic,” this provides an element of continuity. We meet three young women from a Texas town in their senior year of high school, fall 1963; as college seniors and sisters at the KKG sorority in 1968; and meeting up as adults in New York in 1974.

Kathy (Ka’Lena Cuevas), head cheerleader and planner of all major social events, practices for that day’s pep rally with squadmates Mary (Becca Bartley) and Joanne (Cara Olson). In this era between Elvis and the Beatles, the girls are very much of their time. Mary relates the degree to which she lets her boyfriend, Jim, touch her, while Joanne declares she would never allow that with her beau, Ted. Meanwhile Kathy is in a chaste-but-serious relationship with steady Gary.

At Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kathy is still an obsessive planner, readying for the Spring rush and dismayed at the quality of freshmen applying for the sorority. Jim and Gary are each history, but Joanne will marry Ted shortly after Commencement. She looks forward to being a housewife as her husband becomes a lawyer, her degree in music almost an accidental thing. Mary is getting a degree in interior design and tickets to Europe, trading life with disapproving parents for a quest to be “the perfect lost person.” Kathy, facing a future for the first time without her best friends, will continue her life of structure and schedule as a teacher.

In a nice NYC garden apartment, Kathy invites her old friends over – Mary from her SoHo art gallery, Joanne from the Connecticut home she shares with her attorney husband and young children. Champaign will flow, as will words and honest feelings.

True to the title, we have three young women who struggle to see outside themselves. Cuevas maintains a calm demeanor with Kathy, guarded and rarely letting on how confident (or not) she really feels, but never aloof. Bartley takes Mary on her arc of rebellion with an anxiety-tempered smile as she experiences all she can, finding everything but fulfillment. Olson embraces Joanne’s embrace of conservative society expectations, keeping her Texas accent and uncomplicated worldview (except for the strain of childrearing) throughout.

While the subject matter gets serious – complete with a couple of well-placed F-bombs – this is generally a comedy, and these besties do bring on quite a few hearty laughs. In all, an entertaining, intriguing look at an era and the women who came of age in it.

Don’t be too proud to see “Vanities,” 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, March 13-15, at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way in downtown Carmel. For tickets visit thecat.biz or thebelfrytheatre.com.