Guest Blogger: Cassandra Hsiao

Dear Evan Hansen's Jared Kleinman is the mastermind partly responsible for the web of lies Evan Hansen weaves about being friends with his departed classmate, Connor Murphy. Equipped with digital savvy and verbal barbs, Jared provides the levity in the show, allowing audiences to view from a comedic standpoint the absurdity and heartbreak of Evan's situation. Actor Will Roland shares many things in common with his character-his humor, word play, quick wit-but one thing he thankfully no longer has in common is Jared's mean streak.

YOU ARE ENOUGH, a collection of three original one-acts, opens tonight. This will be the third time playwright Dylan Schifrin witnesses two of his works come to life. What makes it more phenomenal is that he is only a sophomore in college.

Life moves in circles. This sort of cliche isn't the message of Lobby Hero-rather, the play in itself is emblematic of the spirit of zeitgeist, the kind where unintended artistic choices turn out to be eerily prescient.

For the next month or so, I'll be memorizing lines and living from rehearsal to rehearsal. I'll be collaborating with actors older than me, actors with countless years of experience under their belt. I'll be digging deep into three original one-acts and studying videos of goth girls, Sheldon Cooper, and Zooey Deschanel to help me step into the shoes of my respective characters. And if I'm honest, I'm a little nervous.

Sometimes, in my English class, I feel an overwhelming urge to shout it out: "The curtains were blue!" The saying is common among students, an adage that rose from a hypothetical situation: the author writes "the curtains were blue" and the Literature teacher reads into it, saying "the curtains represent his immense depression and his lack of will to carry on," when really, the author just means that the curtains were blue.

College, at times, is exhausting. Every Sunday, the question haunts me: When am I going to find time to write?

In January, I said goodbye to working on one of the plays I wrote in my junior year of high school, 'Supermarket of Lost,' which you can read about my experience here: http://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/BWW-Blog-Cassandra-Hsiao-Opening-Nights-and-Goodbyes-Looking-Back-on-SUPERMARKET-OF-LOST-20170123

One year and four months. 

"How do you write like you're running out of time?... How do you write like tomorrow won't arrive? How do you write like you need it to survive? How do you write every second you're alive?"

Rewrites. A word that stares writers down as the cursor blinks expectantly. This is the immense task I am facing-and an assignment I would not trade for the world.

Matthew Morrison is the prime example of a Renaissance man. From getting his big break as Link Larkin in Hairspray to starring in the cultural revolution of Glee to his time as J.M. Barrie in Finding Neverland, Morrison has showcased his ambition, passion and dedication as one of Broadway's leading men. 

10 playwrights. 10 plays. 5 days, give or take. 3 hour production in front of an audience of more than 100.

With four Tony Awards under its belt, "The Humans" benefitted the most from the awards night as ticket sales spiked-so much so that the highly lauded play will be moving from the smallest theatre on Broadway to a theatre with 500 more seats starting August.

I am a writer. Yet words can hardly explain the rush of emotions I felt this past weekend. I speak plainly because there is no way to convey the immense gratification of being treated as a professional playwright at the age of 16.

Italian Run

I walked into a room full of people surrounding a table stocked with Hershey's candy bars, lollipops and flyers for The Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival. For a moment, I hesitated-was this where I belonged, in a building a couple blocks away from the Hollywood Walk of Fame?-but before I could back out, someone spotted me and asked, "Are you here for the 'Supermarket of Lost' table read?" and I said yes.