Dear Evan Hansen

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Theatre in the past was used to spread messages, start conversations, and bring up topics that people may have been uncomfortable with. Broadway has turned away from that and turned to light-hearted and fun stories. The theatre is a place to escape reality. Now Broadway is turning back to telling stories that may be uncomfortable to hear but need to be heard. The show Dear Evan Hansen takes extremely delicate and serious topics and forces the audience to think and talk about them.

The show is about teen suicide and alienation in high school. The show is not shy about tiptoeing around topics that may upset the audience. It tells the story of a family of boy who committed suicide and how they all react and cope differently. Then it shows how his classmates, who had never seen as anything other than a freak, suddenly remember him and talk about how they knew him. Evan meet Connor Murphy, the boy who died, at school where they were both outcasts. Connor, during their short interaction, signed Evan’s arm cast and said “that way they can both pretend to have a friend."

Dear Evan Hansen uses social media and the internet to show how information can spread like wildfire and there is little people can do to know of it is true or not. Evan Hansen has extremely low self esteem, and major social anxiety. He has no friends, and people always seem to look through him and never at him. His mother is also never home due to working many nursing shifts and then going to classes to get a type of law degree.

The second time Connor and Evan meet at the school computer lab. Connor takes a letter that Evan wrote to himself signed “sincerely me” to help with his self esteem as prescribed by his therapist. In the letter there were some things about Connor’s sister, Zoe. Connor’s family  finds the letter in his pocket after he is found dead. This leads Evan to lying to Caleb’s family and the world about being his best friend just so he and Connor’s memory will not go back to being ignored. He knows what it is like to be ignored and works to make sure that no one feels that way again. Evan enlists the whole school to spreads that message via social media, and the internet

  Most people know how serious teen suicide and alienation is but do not talk about these topics. Dear Evan Hansen makes these topics public knowledge, which I believe is an important step. This opens the door for conversations about teen suicide, anxiety and alienation as well as enforcing the precedent that Broadway can make shows that are not just lighthearted, but about serious topics.  

Using theatre to open the conversation about real-life, difficult topics is one way art impacts our lives in positive ways. Whether you agree or not with the situations, shows like Dear Evan Hansen shines a light on societal issues.

For more information about how this book, turned Broadway show, now turning movie go here