Now, I didn’t like this one as much as the other plays I’ve read in this class, but I really loved how this show looked. The lights hanging from the ceiling like stars, the room slowly becoming clean as Spencer, the nonbinary individual this show is about, airs out their traumas and experiences, and the puppets. I was a little annoyed by the puppets at first, detesting the obvious metaphor they were representing, Spencer “being controlling” of their friends, but I found myself liking it more as it continued because it started to feel like the puppets were a blanket for Spencer, a way to buffer the raw emotions of the memories by using silly puppets to play through. I also liked that Spencer interacted with their puppet, being self-aware in the present and interjecting in the memories at times. The other puppets were each designed in very specific ways that portrayed their characters well. The mother had no eyes, showing her blindness to her child’s needs and struggles. Quinn was bright red with dangling hair, a loud colour to show her loud personality. Greg’s green mossy beard shows that PNW adventurer vibes. Casey was shiny, cool, and reflective, showing Spencer what he could become. And then Derek, who was the only one who looked completely normal, maybe reflecting Spencer’s idea of him, the cool normal one who left him. The staging of the show is lovely too. Though it was obviously done for COVID’s sake, it plays into the story well as Spencer reaches out to people, and those people consistently stay 6 feet away. They hug, multiple times, but Spencer can only hug themself in their room because these are memories and they are just retelling them as they clean up their depression room. I also loved how the colour purple was a big part of the designs, in Spencer’s wardrobe and their puppet and bedspread. So I did end up enjoying it. It has plenty to love and the characters are all just kids going through it so you can’t help but feel for them. To me, the story felt too familiar and I was more annoyed at Spencer than sympathetic, but I suppose that could just me projecting my own feelings onto their experiences and mistakes, and I was annoyed by this nearly stereotypical display of mental illness, the messy person who keeps fucking up. It’s a common experience, one that many can relate to, though, so it makes for a strong play that many others can find themselves in and feel satisfied in seeing how things can get better in the end.