SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello, welcome to HerConnect Voice, where we are talking all things performing arts and the power of connection. My name is Lindsay Ann Dow. I am the her in HerConnect Voice, and this season I'm taking you behind the scenes of my first ever professional production, Dear Evan Hansen. This is a multi-tony award-winning musical debuting for the first time in Kelowna, BC, Canada this spring. So, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats and enjoy the show. Okay, we're gonna get right into it here because this is cutting it close. We are four shows away from the end. I interviewed this wonderful human earlier in the rehearsal process on a special night where our plans were canceled due to tech requirements at the theater. So we took our show on the road, literally, and sat outside a local Starbucks podcasting in the wild. There is street noise, the doors closing and opening, but there are also birds tweeting away on a warm spring night in May. Malachi Peters plays Connor Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen. I met Malachi at Calebac auditions. He's a man of fewer words. But when he does it, why is he on his ears? Yes, again with these amazing young people. So incredibly genuine. Underneath all the outbursts and black nails and violence was a boy struggling. Disconnected. Malachi became Connor Murphy and brought all the nuance of this world to meet. At 18, his awareness puts me to shame, and he's only just beginning. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my absolute pleasure to bring you Malachi Peters. Hi, Malachi.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

We are in a bit of an unconventional setting today. Which, hey, I mean, let's just do it. We're outside because we were supposed to have rehearsal tonight, and we were gonna do our interview during rehearsal, which is we've got a great spot in the women's dressing room. It's got real good sound.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Great sound.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

But um rehearsal was canceled tonight, so we have a free night.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

And we're outside and just making lemonade.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

So thanks for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

On our surprise night off. Um so before we get into some of the deeper questions, let's do a couple of our icebreakers. So, triple threat, acting, singing, dancing. Do you consider yourself a triple threat, by the way?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

I do not. Um I think it takes quite a while to get to that point. Um, and I think you have to be told by other people. I don't know if it can be like self-prescribed. No, I'm not. I'm I'm not a triple threat.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So you're not a triple threat. No. So your weakest would be then of course. Absolutely. Which is what everyone says. Yeah. The great thing is, is we don't need to dance in this show.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, this isn't a super dancy show. I think we have about 20 seconds in Sincerely Me where we're You get like the one part of dance.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

And that's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

I think I've said this to a couple people before, like when describing the show, more tears than sweat.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

There are definitely more tears.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

And I'm so glad about the non-sweating thing because I've been backstage for a couple shows and people come off the stage just dripping.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Absolutely dry.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

And there's no relief. Like, where do you go? Next question. You just landed the gig of your life. What is it?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Oh man. Um Jack Kelly from Newsies has always been a favorite of mine.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

I oh I just something about that role. And that's what got me interested in accents, actually. Was because they've all got that the New York accent, right? That's what got me into that. And that's when I started to like experiment with accents and try different things.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Because you kind of brought an accent in Guys and Dolls, correct? I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Everyone kind of had like a New York-y-I liked it.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah. It was good. And I can I can hear a smidge of it for Connor.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Well, you change your voice a lot.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Do I?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

I think.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

I I haven't noticed.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Okay, I'm jump, I'm jumping ahead and I'm just gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

That's okay, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

So you are like a real nice guy.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

You smile a lot, your speaking voice is like soft and you're really just kind, and then you go into Connor and you're just like monotone, deep, kind of scary sounding.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

And I don't know, you completely change your voice.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

I love it though. Like we were all when we did we ran act one the other night at rehearsal. Like I looked around at the other people and they're just whoa. Because it's not Malachi anymore. You disappear.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

P.T. Barnum, you said?

SPEAKER_01 6:04

I yeah, I would love to play BT Barnum. Greatest showman. It's open on the West End now, I believe. So that's that's up there. That's an option.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

That musical was made for TV, right? Like it wasn't made on stage.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

I could be totally wrong about this, but I think it is Bench Pasic and Justin Paul. It is. The guys who did the music for our show, Derby Hansen, did this show as well. And so it'd be it'd be so awesome to be here.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

So for anyone who likes Greatest Showman, Deriv and Hansen is the same writers. It's not a traditional musical.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

No.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

And that's what I'm trying to tell everybody who who I haven't seen in a while, and they're like, oh, what are you up to these days? And I'm like, oh well, I'm I'm I'm on stage, I'm gone back to theater, and they're like, oh, what are you doing? And I say Derren Hansen, of course they've never heard of it, and I immediately try and say, this is not like the musical that you're thinking of.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

No, no, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

All the big dance numbers and the ensembles and um maybe the quirkiness and comedy. I mean, yes, there's a little bit of that, but it's so much more like a very real life drama story.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

That I think everyone can relate to, centering around a group of teens.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Um, five teens, three adults who play parents of some of the teens.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

It's not the cast you're expecting for uh for um when you when you say like a like a stage musical or you're like, oh come out see this show. Like even on Broadway, um, if people are going expecting that show to be like this big, spectacular, like it is spectacular, but it's not as big as people are expecting.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Yeah, it's more intimate.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

It is, it really is. It's like on Broadway, yeah, there's like 500 people watching it, but it feels like it's just you and these people and they're living out their stories.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Because we're renting we're in their bedrooms, right? Like we're so many of the scenes happen at their dining room. Dining room table, the the living room couch, the bedroom, the bed. Like there's there's a lot of like you're right in their space.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Never really thought about it that way.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Yeah. Very cool. Okay, so talk to me about Connor. Is that who you were trying out for? Or were you just kind of like, I'll be whatever guy you want me to be?

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yeah, um, I I auditioned and I think I checked all the boxes. Like when it asked like who you want to audition for, I was like, you know what, we'll just go for all of them. But I wanted Connor especially more than the other ones because I knew I knew his he has a very different story to tell. And I like the complicated characters. I like the ones that aren't just like as they seem, like, there's more to them, they're super deep. And Connor stuck out to me really as a character that I relate to and and just someone whose story isn't as obvious to some people.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

We don't really get to know Connor.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

No.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

So you there's a lot of freedom, I think, on your part to kind of like bring whatever you think to the role. We've seen online different theater companies have done different things with Connor.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Sherry different things with Connor.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

But at the end of the day, he's always a very troubled individual. Um, doesn't fit in at school, is kind of labeled a bully, or more just like an just an unhappy person, I think.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

I feel like everyone has a Connor in their life. If if they don't have a Connor in their life, they might be a Connor in the best way. And I think that's why Connor can be so different throughout different productions, because Connor's all of us in some way, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Who is your Connor?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Hmm. I've been asked this question before, and I don't really have a specific person that reminds me of Connor, but there are different aspects of Connor that remind me of some of my friends, and um just that very human nature to him that like not to judge a book by its cover, everyone's struggling, everyone's going through something, and sometimes people act out, and it's it's just a it's a cry for help, and not everyone sees that. And so, yeah, that that reminds me of some people I know, but just people in general. I think all of us can relate to him in some way. But in terms of people that specifically remind me of Connor, I would say probably mostly me, because I know myself really well. Um I'm just really I'm just really happy to be able to play this character and and bring out the dark side of Malachi. Put little little parts of me into him that I uh normally wouldn't show people. Um it's it is a very like raw and very genuine role. And it's it's gonna be tough, but it's gonna be really good, I think almost therapeutic in a way.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Randy gave a little talk the other night about making sure that we leave our characters at the studio and not take them home with us and try really hard just to separate ourselves from the roles because these are like we're experiencing some big emotions. I think. Um, all of our characters, most of our characters go through kind of an arc of our emotions throughout the show. And it's har I guess, like I'm assuming so far I haven't, you know, felt the ill effects of it. Yeah. Um, but like my character has to deal with the death of a child, and like I have kids. Yeah. So I guess the risk being, you know, you kind of lean into the feeling of that happening to you and bringing that to your character.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

And I can say that so far I have not done that.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

I think I'm able to separate it, but we haven't gotten to a point where we're doing it every night yet.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Have you how two times, two times in a day? That's gonna be. Saturdays are gonna be so fun. You guys gotta come see the shows. Saturday nights, Saturday nights are fun.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Saturday nights, because then you can just kind of you know you've already done the one, and second one's just like rinse repeat. Wow. So, how do you feel about going where you have to go? Because you have I think where I have to go to kind of like an emotional place, yours is more like I would just kind of perceive Connor as being more on the angry side.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Like stormy. So, what do you use to draw on?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

It is very difficult. Um, I've been finding to look at a person on stage and just straight up yell at them and be so angry at them because I love all you guys. You guys are amazing, and we have great conversations and we're like best friends and everything, and then I gotta yell at you guys, and it's and it's just that is really hard for me, and I I find that really hard.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah, just watching your like your body language change and your voice change, and it's like it's really cool to watch.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Dear Evan Hansen ultimately is a story about connection or lack of connection and what that can do to people. I do you think Connor's disconnected?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

I think he wants connection, but he has tried a few times and it hasn't gone so well for him. And so he has blocked everyone else out from connecting, but blames them for not connecting. I think there's definitely some walls there. Built by both sides, honestly, like the way that some people talk about Connor and just personifying him, putting him in a box, like, oh, he's just a bad person. Really built walls, definitely for sure. So there's there's definitely connection issues between him and just the world in general. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Yeah, he just doesn't fit in, right? Like he doesn't fit into a box, into a box that people are happy with, anyways.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

And so they label it do not touch or avoid, proceed with caution, and people stay away, maybe just because they don't understand him.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

He is also disconnected from his family. Yes. What didn't you say?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yes. Oh, absolutely. You'll see that in the first scene.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

You know what? I was thinking a lot about the first scene over the last few days. The first scene just describing it, it is first day of school.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Everyone's, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

First day of senior year.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

First day of senior year, Connor. And Connor wants to not go. He's trying to skip. Yes. And, you know, I I can relate to that. I know. I like totally.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

That came from a real place. Did it? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

You're like, no, I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

But I was homeschooled, so it's different. But we can touch on that later.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yes, I know. I didn't even go there yet. So everyone's trying to get out of the door. It's a busy morning, and Connor's trying to miss the first day, and his mom, me, is like bustling around trying to get everyone out the door. She's like gonna yoga class, like everyone's gotta leave. And Connor is high. And everybody knows it. Yep. No one wants to deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

It's like you said, it's one of those like, don't touch, proceed with caution. They've dealt with this before, and it's kind of like just Pandora's box. Just kind of like don't tell them it's wrong.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

And hope for the best. So that it all kind of ends with like a blow-up. Everyone's frustrated. I'm exasperated. Like, how the heck do I do this? Anybody have a map? Masterful, another masterful attempt ends with disaster. How do we make that scene not look like a caricature of a family and not like comedy? Because it is, it's gonna get laughs. People are gonna laugh at it.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Absolutely. I'm not ready for that.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

I know.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

I'm not.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

How do we make it relatable and like not make it too funny? I think I've been looking at that a lot. So I I was thinking that I kind of want to play into you a bit more in like the not the babying of you, but like the wanting to make you happy. Like it's like you know, I think there's different ways to say that line. Um, it's your senior year, Connor, you are not missing the first day. It can be it's your senior year, Connor, you are not missing the first day. Or it can be, it's your senior year, Connor, you're not missing the first day. Like, let's pull ourselves together, buddy. And I think I'm leaning a bit more that way. Just trying really, really hard to like coax you into a happy existence that I can relate to. Because right now I cannot relate to you at all.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Yeah. And that that the way you're playing it contrasts Larry really, really well, who's already given up. Connor's dad's already given up. You're you're doing an incredible job of Cynthia. She's she's she's reaching out, she's like trying to reach Connor, but like everyone on their own terms. Like there it is, it is on him. Like the responsibility is on him.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

And then when he's high, then it's like, okay, well now you're just doing something wrong. We talked about this. Like, we took Connor, we talked about this. You can't go to school high.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Oh, that when that comes out of my mouth, I'm like, gosh, can she, you know, dig a little deeper here. Maybe there's something else going on. Why is he high? Why is he high?

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Why is he trying to escape? What is what's in his head, you know? Totally. And that's what I'm digging into is what's in his head. Why is he trying to escape?

SPEAKER_00 17:30

So, okay, so Connor, rough life, he's as this morning, he has a brief encounter with Evan Hansen at school. Yes. And kind of the next thing we find out is that he's committed suicide.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

The rest of the show, which is basically like more than three-quarters of the show, he appears as a ghost. Yes. And almost like Evan Hansen's version of him.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

What is that like for you? Playing alive Connor is one thing. Playing ghost Connor, that's complex, man.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

It it is. It I find alive Connor is for me the part that I we all know Connor as the alive Connor, right? That's how we remember him. Which is interesting because then you get to play Um Ghost Connor, not as how people remember him.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

So I'm trying to like, I'm watching Ethan and his mannerisms and the way he says things, and I'm trying to put some of those into Connor because it's the voice in Evan's head. So Ethan does this really good thing where he he'll say a sentence and then he'll go up at the end, and it sounds unsure. Like I think this is one line he goes, like, we need more emails, and he's and it it just sounds unsure and like less confident, like Evan, which is really good. And I'm seeing like if I can bring that in to Connor to sound like a voice in Evan's head while also still being Connor. That's good. Yeah, it's good, it's it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be really good. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

I love it. My goodness. Okay. Um let's just like. So you were homeschooled.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

I was homeschooled, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

So so this whole years. This whole show is about the inner workings of high school and how you know people are kind of putting talking about putting people in a box. Like, if there's anyone to do that, it's gonna be teenagers, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Oh, teenagers the worst. I'm kidding. I love you guys.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Me too. I have one at home now. My gosh. 13-year-old all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Um so fast.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

So fast. Um, how do you relate? I mean, you were homeschooled, but like it's not like you were you didn't ever see anybody. So how what experiences do you draw from?

SPEAKER_01 19:45

I've had to do some research in how high schools work. Really? Because it's not all like high school musical, which is what I grew up on, which is what I thought high schools were.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

I wish it was like.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Oh, you guys don't start just like randomly singing and dancing in the middle of uh the Wildcats auditory.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I mean, I lived for band and drama class. That's kind of how I got through high school.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Um, but no, we wouldn't unfortunately just spontaneously burst into song. No Zach Afron and Dang it Vanessa. Nope, none of her. She wasn't there either.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Dang it.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

If there was, I would have hated her because I would have wanted to be her. So what, like, how does that go for you?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Oh man. So yeah, I am I'm I'm kind of like doing research into high schools and how like how that dynamic works. Um I have friends that are in high school, my girlfriend's still in high school. So I like I'll talk to them about how high school works. Like, um, sometimes they'll tell me, like, oh yeah, I'm going to I have second period or like I'm going to whatever homeroom or what is that? I don't like homeroom. My my my homeroom was my kitchen table, and that was uh all of my classes were the kitchen table.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

My homeroom.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

So I literally it was literally my homeroom. So yeah, and that back to what I was saying earlier about like skipping a day. I can relate to wanting to skip a day of homeschool. You want to just you want to go outside, you want to play, you want to do something else other than than your book work, but you know, we had to get it done.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

But do you you seem very happy with your homeschool experience? Or you're like, you and you have three, is it three siblings?

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Three, yeah. I'm the second oldest of four.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

And so was it your mom or dad or both who helped homeschool you?

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Um both, but we also we had book work and we had some online work and a lot of it was very independent.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Which was very nice because I could if I woke up at seven and I wanted to do my schoolwork, I could finish it in like three or four hours.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

And I'm done before lunch.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

So That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

And then you have the rest of the day.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Yeah. So just to run outside and play.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

So asking to skip a day of home school was not super valid because you had way less school than everyone else, anyways. Totally, totally. Well, so much of it is filler, I think, anyways. My siblings are great, but it wasn't the same as like peer pressure and and all those like things that people would draw from to be in this kind of a show about high school. Because I was homeschooled. So yeah, doing doing research on like what is it like to be at high school and feel these these these society norms, if that's if that's a way I can describe it. And these these pressures.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

It's like the judgments, I guess. It's like the first time that you're being judged. Yeah. And it's never gonna go away, you're never gonna stop being judged, but it's the first time, and you're still so young.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

It's a very fragile part um in anyone's life, just like growing and hormones and friends and all the like all the crazy stuff that happens when you're turning into an adult. And then also add like the social aspect to that and and and and homework and what about social media? Yeah. Oh, social media. I actually deleted my social media a couple of months ago because I was on it too much and it wasn't good for my mental health. But I got it again recently.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

To promote the show.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

For research and also to promote the show. Of course. I started meeting so many amazing people at Actors Studio, and they're like, oh yeah, what's your Instagram or what's your Snapchat? I'm like, I I guess I have it now. And so I got it again, and it is it has been really good to see social media is a huge part of Dear Evan Hansen that I think a lot of people don't even realize. You may not even realize it until you've watched the show quite a few times, but that's really the it moves the whole show forwards because that's how the information is spread, that's how everything goes terribly, terribly wrong.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Almost as like a bomb effect. Like what happens would have still happened, yeah, but because of social media, it just blows up. That is where all of the high school students are getting involved. They're now creating this Connor Murphy memorial.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

This this show would not have worked if it was set in like the 50s. It like it wouldn't, it wouldn't have worked. It's social media is the or the internet. I forget who said this. Someone in the original cast, like original Broadway cast, said, I think it was Mike Feist, who is who is Connor Murphy, who's incredible. Um, I think it was him that said uh the ninth cast member is the internet.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

I think that was him. Oh, so interesting.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

It's so there's nine cast members and the ninth is the internet.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

Because he it is like it wouldn't be anything without it.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

And then again, and how it resolves in the end. Yeah. It it there's that other the second bomb, if we can call it that, bomb number two, where Connor's suicide note gets shared online. Yeah. And like that was never meant to be shared.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Be careful online, kids. Be careful what you post online.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

My goodness. Yeah. That you know, in a in like a rash moment of panic because he felt that he was about to be figured out.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Evan shares the note with somebody he trusts, and she has ulterior motives. She's trying to raise money for this project, she shares it online, and it's everywhere. And it causes this boom that then you know sends the Murphy family into turmoil again, and he has to finally admit what he's done in order to save them from that turmoil. Yeah. So interesting the bookends of this, like how it starts and how it stops, how the internet is involved in all of it. And I think it's just a really interesting like piece on what social media and what like really, really fast communication can do for people. It can be amazing. You know, we've we've seen all of the like GoFundMe campaigns and amazing things have been done in a very short period of time. Relief efforts have been sent all over the world because people have known about something that's happening thousands of miles away. Um, but at the same time, our kids are hurting.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah. I don't think I was as affected by it as other people.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Because by that point in my life I'd started to just not care what other people thought.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

It's a good way to be.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

So yeah, it didn't, it didn't really affect me in that way. But it it really is interesting to get it again and kind of to think, to like see a post and think, okay, how would this affect me if I was Connor? And then scroll the next one, like, okay, how would how would I see this if I was Connor? And like, would I say something? Like, who would my friends be? Like what like what would happen there?

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Yeah, it's crazy how you know the perfect storm can happen for that kid who responds a certain way in a certain situation, and how it can just snowball into, you know, depression, not fitting in, anxiety, um, I mean ultimately just pulling away and lack of connection. And and you, as you said earlier, these little outbursts that that are actually cries for help. It's almost like a little temper tantrum by a kid, right? Yeah like they're actually to get attention, but they're getting the attention not in the right way.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Yeah. People have to see the show, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yeah, they have to do that.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

And not just in like a come see the show, you know, like no, like you like actually come see the show.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

If you are a teenager, if you know a teenager, if you have a teenager, if you were once a teenager, have I touched on everybody?

SPEAKER_01 27:52

If you are just not if you're a tiny kid. Yeah, maybe not for the show.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Maybe don't bring the tiny kids to this one.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

It is a it is a heavy show, I will I will say. Um if we haven't emphasized that enough, it is a very heavy emotional show, but it is so genuinely human and raw. I think everyone needs to see it. You definitely won't feel alone. I think you'll feel extremely close with the audience members that you're with. And you might even find a new love for theater because it is the music is so good, guys. Come out and see it.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

It is so good, and I do think that they cover a very difficult topic in the most beautiful way.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Yeah, it's so touching.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

How better to cover this topic of mental health and suicide and you know kids growing up in social media than with music?

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Definitely some tears. You will be found, is the big number before the end of Act One. It's probably my favorite song in the show because it feels a little bit like church.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

It is, it's so moving.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Which I just love. Um, and it's so moving, and yeah, I think that's probably the message that everyone will take out of there. Yeah, is that we will be found. You are seen, you are you are who you are, and you belong. Regardless of who that is.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

So Malachi. Yes. Cast of eight. Me, you, and six others. Eighteen shows over three weeks.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

June 10th to 28th. That's coming up real quick. Shows are Wednesday through Sunday, two matinees on the weekend, and tickets are for sale now at the Actor Studio. Get your tickets at Kelownaactorstudio.com. Come see the show.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Yes, please do. Please do. Bring your family, bring your friends, um, bring a teenager that you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Hug a teenager today. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Grandparents, bring your grandkids. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Okay, perfect.