Live! The Realest MC is a work inspired by both the story of Pinocchio and an early solo work of mine entitled Inventing Pookie Jenkins. The similarity in these characters lies in their quest for acceptance. For one, it’s a quest to become a “real boy;” for the other, it’s a quest for “realness.” Reimagined into an evening-length, ensemble work that investigates gender roles within my community, this story took on a deeper dive when faced with the 2010 media headlines surrounding the untimely death of college student Tyler Clementi and 13-year-old Ryan Halligan in 2003. I began to think about a time in my life when I prayed that I could go unnoticed. Hoping that if I get my voice to sound like the other male students around me, I wouldn’t be found out. I just wanted to be a robot… a puppet… but maybe without the lederhosen.