Nutcracker is a fresh twist on a cautionary tale. Shelly is a 17-year old, African-American girl on the cusp of womanhood. The realities of wanting to be desired, wanting to be validated, and wanting to fit in pull her down to a place of desperation. Her vivid imagination often finds her in awkward situations, but over the course of the story it stretches to the place where she’s willing to put herself in not just a vulnerable, but downright life-threatening situation.