I have a lovely and intensely nostalgic conversation with Actor, Singer, and dear friend, Cynthia Shiraev. We discuss Cynthia’s experiences of growing up with a loving family in Los Gatos (California), having a wild computer programmer father and librarian mother, learning that her mom was in a coven of witches, discovering her love for singing/performance through her mother’s love of opera, being rewarded for good behavior with books as a child, reliving our theatrical performances at Los Gatos High School, Cynthia’s father intimidating her prom date by sitting in silence with the Discovery Channel on mute, me lounging around her home in heart covered boxer shorts, Cynthia having a friend prank call me to get me out of her house, discovering “performance culture” at San Francisco State University, being diagnosed with Multiple Scorosis in her early twenties, experiencing the effects of her boyfriend’s psychotic break in Prague, adapting to the loss of physical abilities, both of us rediscovering our desire to perform, and much more. AUDIO NOTE: My apologies for my sound quality for the first 30 minutes of the show. I meditated before the conversation began and I was so relaxed that I did not remember to connect my microphone to the computer! Recording Date: Wednesday, July 21st, 2021. To follow Cynthia on Instagram, please visit: @cynncie. To learn more about me, please visit: www.blindmaninblack.com