SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — If you think millennials get a bad rap, talk to a member of Generation Z, also known as Gen Z.
Gen Z is the generation born in the mid-'90s and early 2000s, on the heels of Gen X and Gen Y. A group of teenagers from South Portland decided to write, produce and act in a play to reflect their frustrations. Nick Sutton created the musical because others weren't portraying Gen Z right on stage, or on TV.
"Teenagers were being played by like 20- and 30-year-old people and they were often an inaccurate depiction of high schoolers today," Sutton said. "We were like why don't we write an actual show about our generation."
The 15-year-old co-wrote the play with Annika Schmitt, who also directed the play. She guides the 12 cast members through the scenes to prove a point about what teens are doing on their phones, tablets and laptops.
"Things like, 'oh, social media is causing all these problems,' and maybe it does, but we wanted to talk about that and how there are also good sides and maybe we understand more than they do how that has helped us come together as a generation," Schmitt said.
In the plot of Gen Z, there's a social media ban enacted at school. The cast spends time figuring out a way to show the positives of social media. Toby Laber-Smith plays the role of a nerdy teen obsessed with video games. It was important for him to not just do his part justice, but also break the stereotypes that are typically associated with Gen Z.
"I think it's interesting because the show is still very much theatrical, so it tries to kind of poke fun at the stereotypes that exist in our world and use them in a fun way, but also kind of deepen out the characters so they are more realistic members of Gen Z," Laber-Smith said. "I would say it does a really good job."
Gen Z The Musical ran for two nights at The Portland Players in South Portland.