STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The marquee lights dimmed over Staten Island’s theater community when Cara Liander Gordon, a 41-year-old playwright and director with a vibrant personality and a remarkable zest for life, died unexpectedly on Nov. 4.

At her funeral in St. Charles R.C. Church in Oakwood on Wednesday, her husband, John, promised mourners in a strong and steady voice that “her light will never be diminished.”

“Her enthusiasm brightened every room she entered,” he eulogized. “Her greatest joy was to make others thrive. She was a beam of sunshine, a pure light that cast no shadow.”

His words comforted the wide circle of people Cara touched during her abbreviated life — the actors she collaborated with on stage and behind the scenes at Staten Island Shakespearean Theatre, the young thes

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