Theater students are taking complete creative control over this school year’s second musical, a sci-fi production called “Be More Chill.”

The musical will be directed by Aaron Fort and will be run by students. Fort is leading the way, creating a vision for the musical and handling casting and scheduling.

The musical tackles themes of popularity, technology and anxiety in high school. It was written by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz and is based on a novel by Ned Vizzini in which high school student Jeremy Heere uses a supercomputer to become cool and win the girl. The musical has been performed both on and off-Broadway.

Auditions will run Dec. 15-18 in the auditorium. Fort has devised an audition process that will feature both vocal talent and character interpretation.

Students auditioning for vocal parts should prepare a song of their choice. This can be a number directly from the “Be More Chill” scores or a song that defines the character the student is auditioning for.

For non-singing roles, students will undergo a different kind of test. Instead of a prepared monologue, actors will receive a script excerpt or a conceptual prompt at the director’s discretion.

A full script of the musical is available for perusal for those interested in reviewing the material ahead of auditions.

By Sean Starling