Eureka teens create their own musical production

A group of Lincoln County High School students in Eureka has taken on the sizable task of putting on their own theatrical production of the popular Broadway musical “Be More Chill.”

Originally a novel published in 2004 by American author Ned Vizzini and then turned into a Broadway musical, the author, sadly, suffered from depression and didn’t live to see its success. He died at the age of 32 by suicide.

The students are doing 100% of the directing, producing, acting, set designing, and fundraising, as well as the posters and marketing.

Performances will take place April 2 at 7 p.m., and April 3 at 2 p.m. at the Lincoln High School auditorium in Eureka.

"Be More Chill" is about an unpopular high school student. Considered a painfully uncool high school loser by his peers, he spends his days lusting after his beautiful classmate Christine and tallying his daily humiliations. Everything changes when his cool classmate offers the secret to his success — a squip — a swallowable pill-sized computer that, once ingested, tells its host how to behave to be more chill and more popular. With the squip, he gets constant advice on how to be cool, and finds his life and social circle changing dramatically.

“Be More Chill” is about the important journeys young people take to reconcile the varied voices promising guidance in order to find their own. From the struggle to navigate high school social status, to defining who you are on your own terms — and the power of true friendship