Imaginary Friends Information

A New Musical By Matt W. Ebel
Characters and Story Information
Character Drawings by Megan Giles
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	Michael's an eighteen year old boy from a suburb of Seattle. Growing up, he lived in a comfortably middle-class home as his father is a psychiatrist in the Emerald City. During his years in high school he hung out with the debate team, the poetry club, the drama club, and occasionally the gothic crowd. Not a huge fan of TV, he spent most of his free time writing and reading books from authors like Madeline L'engle and Ann Rice.
Raised in the heart of Tacoma, Susana has spent her eighteen years surrounded by the noise and rush of a big metropolis. She has no idea who her father is, but her mother has been very attentive and nurturing despite the fact that she works full-time as an administrative assistant. Her high school friends stood outside the school and smoked while they complained about... well, pretty much anything involving "the establishment". Even in her rough surroundings she survived four years of public shooling without any fights or injuries, mostly due to her quiet nature. Now attending a nice college on English scholarships and federal aid, she hopes she won't have to bury her nose in Weis & Hickman fantasy books to avoid getting noticed.
	Though he's Michael's imaginary friend, Jazz is a full four years older than his human counterpart. A six foot tall osprey with a wit as sharp as his talons, he currently resides in Michael's head as part of a vacation from his reality. Where Jazz comes from, a great war has erupted and he and Michael live vicariously through each other. Michael wishes he was a warrior like Jazz, and Jazz longs for the live of sipping coffee and writing whatever comes to his feathered head.
An eighteen year old humanoid alleycat, she grew up in Susana's mind as a companion and a defensive mechanism. Tanga is one tough kitty who, like Jazz, grew up in a war zone: Downtown Chicago. She represents what Susana would be like if she gave in to her negative reactions, but deep down- waaaaay deep down -she's a sweet cat with a heart of gold. Like the bird she enjoys tormenting, she's addicted to high-octane caffeine, though she takes hers with a liberal dose of catnip.
Dr. Stripe has taught in the English department for a very long time. He's lived in a small town for most of his 52 years, following his dreams of writing fiction but maintaining the sensible path of education. He's never really considered having an imaginary friend before, though he's prone to speaking with animals and, sometimes, himself. Rather right-brained and left-winged, he's considered by his colleagues as "one of those artsy types that the students love." Stripe is also fascinated with books and movies that question reality, create new worlds, or give life to otherwise normal parts of this reality.		A 41 year old counselor at the university, Dr. Thornton has a history of keeping kids on the straight and narrow. She spent ten years as a child psychologist and has "killed" her fair share of imaginary friends in the process. For six years she has served as the college's head counselor and provides free, licensed psychiatric counseling to the students. Her goal is to ensure that the learning process runs smoothly for all students. Though she tries to be imaginitive within the confines of a normal, healthy mind, her bookshelf is filled with more medical journals than novels.

Michael and Susana are two freshmen entering college with a strange secret: they both talk to imaginary friends. Branded as weird and strange by their peers, they find each other and realize that they're not alone. In fact, they find they have enough in common to become true friends, perhaps more. Their imaginary companions, a bird named Jazz and a cat named Tanga, enjoy more of a predator/prey relationship as they deny their attraction for each other.

Wanting desperately to fit in with mainstream college life, Michael tries his hand at normality and in the process alienates himself from the people who really love him. In doing this, he attracts the attention of Dr. Ellen Thornton, the university's head counselor. Mike is now forced to see Dr. Thornton about his "problem" of talking to himself in public and Jazz is now in imaginary purgatory, waiting to see if Michael will talk to him again.

As luck would have it, Dr. William Stripe, their somewhat eccentric English teacher, agrees to adopt Jazz while they talk to Mike. Inside a different imagination, however, Jazz becomes a totally different person. He's no longer the earthy, sarcastic, over-caffeinated bird that his friends are used to.

Will the four reunite? How will they turn Jazz back into the bird they've come to know and love? Does Susana love Michael? Does Michael love Susana? Does Tanga get to eat Jazz, or will they find a truce? Most importantly, is Michael really crazy?

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