Two high school students, Kim and Eric, are on the beach, and they begin to talk about their high school drama class and their senior production. Their drama teacher has given them the usual choices, such as Hello, Dolly and Our Town but they have a different idea. Although they acknowledge that these are classics, they wonder if they might do something that's more relevant to their lives. The heat at the beach brings them to a discussion of climate change and the existential threat to their future.
Kim and Eric decide to suggest that the drama class put on a show about it. They also decide that lots of their parents are hooked on misery, glued to the TV news, and, among the more conservative parents (some of whom are Evangelicals), the hope for End Times.
The students decide to call the show ‘Hooked on Happiness’ and propose their idea to their drama class. The drama teacher wonders how they can write the show--after all, they're not playwrights--but she says she'll give them two weeks to see what they can come up with. The class gets to work on the songs and a new show is born! However, the students face a tough crowd when they reveal it to their conservative audience.
Hooked on Happiness guide sections
