The nature of my research is rather unconventional. My purpose is to speak directly to any student who feels like no matter what they do, they can’t succeed in life. It seems to be a very common sentiment among my peers, and I am no stranger to it. As such, my musical certainly examines scholarly sources, but I figure the best way to capture the depth of the emotions and themes presented is to connect what I write to my own experiences, and the experiences of people close to me. I have messaged several friends in open-ended ways, asking if they had any history with subjects like self harm, and to answer some questions about it if they were comfortable doing so. I want the interactions and depictions of emotions throughout this story to be real, and rooted in something that matters to me, such as the feelings of myself or my loved ones, instead of following the Hollywood tropes of bullies shoving kids in lockers, and so on.

fake. is an art piece intended to address feelings of isolation, neglect, and insecurity among teens, presented in the form of a musical. In summary, a boy named Will fears he will be a nobody forever, until one day, he acquires a magical book, in which anything he writes comes true. He must learn why escaping his life isn’t the answer as the musical progresses. It addresses themes of self-harm, human relationships, and ambitions through Will’s journey from being a self-loathing, misanthropic nobody, to gaining unfathomable amounts of power over his friends and humanity itself, and having to give it up in order to help someone in need. In its nature, my thesis is a rather provocative project, having many instances of tragedy and pain, and juxtaposing them with upbeat moments, humor and explicit language.

My research connects to my thesis because I used the responses I gathered from my friends, both in person and over social media platforms like Discord, Instagram, etc. to heavily inspire the motivations and feelings of my characters in this musical, and used the conversations we had as a basis for the dialogue presented throughout it as well. Thankfully, having so much of my own passion and feelings poured into this project, I sourced myself for a lot of it, as well, but it required me to really dig deep. I’ve been attending therapy sessions as well in order to learn more about my mindset now vs. when I was a high-schooler, like the protagonist, Will. My primary focus for the entire project is for it to help at least one person in the world the way that myself and the people around me wish that we could have been helped.

ACT I

Young Will is standing on a stage, about to start singing when he looks up and sees the auditorium is completely empty. A single tear rolls down his face. He begins singing the song “Nobody Forever” Young Will’s piece of the song is hopeful, revealing his big plans to become famous, but after a time-skip to older him, he’s accepting that he’ll be a nobody forever.

The Great Nimo is a big-time celebrity magician, walking out of his tour bus in slow-mo, doing various magic tricks for students crowding around him, about to perform a show at the school. He’s a very cocky, confident guy, and he sings “I’m F*cking Magical,” through this whole introduction, glossing over deep feelings of regret about his past, pretending pain doesn’t matter when you’ve got magic!

Will is pacing back and forth in the hallway, practicing asking out Maya. A bell rings, and a whole group of students begin crowding into the auditorium to see Nimo’s show. Will tries to make his way through the crowd and get Maya’s attention, but ends up getting trampled by everyone. Eventually, he’s all alone on the floor, and sings “Nobody Forever (Reprise),” accepting that people don’t care about him.

Will is stopped in a spotlight as he enters. Nimo is about to perform his final trick, and calls Will to the stage. Nimo writes Will’s name in a magic book, and tells everyone it can see into one’s reality. Will tries to say no, until it begins to project traumatizing scenes of Will’s most embarrassing, heartbreaking experiences, including him cutting. This shocks the room, and everyone including Maya is speechless.

Smash cut to Will in bed, crying hysterically, when his mom walks in the room. She quietly sits next to him, and after more silence, says she is really sorry, softly singing “Someone to Love You.” Will continues to cry, but thinks about what Hope says, until he eventually falls asleep. Even if he won’t admit it, he’s happy she was there for him.

Nimo magically appears next to Will in the bathroom, like a genie. He half-asses an apology in the most insincere way possible. He hilariously starts to play the victim, blaming Will for leaving all this guilt on his conscience. Nimo eventually offers Will the book, explaining that anything he writes in it comes true. He sings “Rewrite” and transfers its ownership to him. but cautions Will that NO ONE else may use it.

Will is standing in the hallway, when a few people bully him about the magic act, making fun of his cuts. Will takes the book and writes his first wish, “I matter to people.” To Will’s surprise, the bullies apologize to him. Other people around the school begin telling him how strongly they relate to his experiences, and apologize that this happened to him. All the well wishes take Will by surprise as the whole school joins in an anthem, “We Are Here for You.”

Will is alone in a practice room writing a new song. Suddenly, Maya enters the room, apologizing to him about the magic act. He tells her that it really means a lot to him. She asks what he’s doing, and he says he’s just struggling to write a song. She says she writes songs, too, and suggests that the two of them should put on a concert! Suddenly, Will hesitates, recalling the last time he threw a concert. Maya plays an uplifting song, “Don’t Run Away,” as they start putting up fliers for the concert. They have an “almost kiss.”

Will is sitting at the beach, reflecting on how his life is starting to improve, when Nimo appears. Nimo asks what the hell Will’s been doing with the book, considering he isn’t off signing autographs or getting laid. Nimo looks through it and laughs hysterically at Will’s singular pathetic wish, so the two of them sing “Why Stop There?” in which Nimo convinces Will to use the book to become disgustingly famous.

Will begins singing a calm, but upbeat song, “Worst Things/Best Things,” showing how he’s surprised the worst things that have ever happened to him became the best thing that’s ever happened to him. Now, all of a sudden, people care about him. This is intended as an emotional solo, where he sings directly to the audience.

Hope is crying. Will enters. He asks what’s wrong, and Hope says Will’s dad was yelling at her for suggesting marriage counseling. She apologizes for how hard they’ve made Will’s life, when he says he’s actually been doing better. Hope is so proud of him! Will tells her about the book, then exits. Hope sings “I Deserve a Little Magic,” and writes in the book behind Will’s back, “I have a happy marriage.”

ACT II

Will and Maya finish planning the concert, when Will notices a scar on Maya’s forehead. She tells him it was a minor injury from when she and her brother used to go on adventures. She says that She’s been alone for so long after he ran away, and everything getting better so quickly feels too good to be true. Will shares the feeling as the two of them sing “Fiction,” going on a montage of dates, and ending with a kiss cus people go crazy for that shit I guess.

Nimo's magic begins going wrong in a magic show, embarrassing him in front of thousands of people, and then, he realizes his dick has disappeared. Afraid of what's happening, he finally decides to confront the mysterious cave where he found the book in the first place. The mischievous voice of the cave sings, "Fake," telling Nimo that writing "fake."  in the book is the only way to undo the mistake, at the cost of also undoing every good thing the book has brought anyone.

Will is walking home from Maya’s, when Nimo runs up to him in a panic. He says that the book’s rules were violated, and reality itself is beginning to vanish. The only way to stop it is to write “fake,” which will disenchant the book. Will asks what happens then, and Nimo replies that every wish will be reversed. Confident that no one else used the book, Will thinks Nimo is lying, and sings “Bravo.”

Will runs away, and all of a sudden, Nimo begins to disappear. All he can do is watch helplessly and panic as he disappears. He chokes on his tears, trying to deny that he’s seconds away from death. He begins to cry as he sings “Everything is Fine!” By the time the song ends, he has completely disappeared, cutting him off before the last word of the song, “fine.”

When Will returns home, he finds his parents sharing a romantic candlelit dinner. He mentions that they always fight, so something must be wrong. Hope then reveals that she may or may not have used the book, but then she points out how happy it has made everyone, and thanks Will. At this moment, Will realizes Nimo was telling the truth, and in shock, slowly walks to his room to check the book.

Will picks up the book, about to write, “fake,” but instead, writes his name again to watch his life project from the book like it did in the magic act. As he watches his past experiences up close, all the pain floods back to him, and he sings a sad, emotional song, “Vanishing,” pretty much admitting that he’d rather die than go back to how shitty and awful his life was before.

Will is driving up to the school for the night of the concert, and he sees a metric f*ckton of people crowded around the building, including news reporters and helicopters. When he gets out of the car, everyone is singing “We Are Here for You (Reprise),” and suddenly, he sees Maya standing across the crowd. Everyone parts the sea for him and he walks toward her. They enter the building.

Maya is standing on stage, welcoming everyone, and about to sing her first song. Will is watching from backstage, staring at the music for a song he wrote, “Real Life.” Maya starts to sing “Don’t Run Away (Reprise)” - VERY IMPORTANT PIECE! This indirectly convinces Will not to let everyone vanish, but to instead disenchant the book. Will crumples up his song. Maya finishes playing, and introduces Will.

After a long moment of dead silence, Will finally gets on stage in front of everyone, shaking. After some more silence, he tells them that reality is disappearing. He explains to everyone that the truth is none of them actually care about him. He just used a magic book to make them. In real life, he’s a nobody. In tears, he begins singing “Lose it All,” in which he finally writes “fake,” and once again finds himself standing alone on a dark stage.

Unaware that the enchantment was broken, Hope is minding her own business, when her husband bursts through the front door, all angry. She doesn’t understand what’s going on, and the two get into an aggressive, loud fight, where shit gets thrown. Eventually, Hope has enough, and kicks Will’s dad out once and for all, finally singing “I Swear.”

Will is sitting at the beach once again, all alone, watching the book drown. A stranger walks up to him, and says thank you. It is Nimo, but his actual name is Nick Moore, brother of Maya Moore. He and his sister used to go exploring all the time. One day, they followed a treasure map to the book. Maya was nearly killed. The guilt led Nimo to run away and never look back, using the book to change everything about himself. After all this time, he’s learned that running away wasn’t the answer.