Chloe, who had just finished a run of Disney’s Freaky Friday and knew how to hold a crowd.

On opening night at the community center, the room was packed. As Marcus’s neon lights flickered and Chloe "switched" personalities mid-scene, Leo realized they weren't just following trends—they were creating one. The local paper called it a "high-energy performance capturing the pressures of being a teenager in a hyper-connected world".

His big break came when he heard about at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library , a program designed to turn viral digital ideas into real-world projects. Inspired, Leo decided to stage a live, D&D-style improvisational adventure set in a mashup of his favorite anime worlds—something like the Anime LIVE: Teen Edition events he’d read about. He recruited a ragtag crew:

Marcus, a regular at the Teen Geek Squad who promised to rig up a "SQUIP-like" AR interface, just like the one in the musical Be More Chill .

They called their event It wasn't just a play; it was an interactive experience where the audience used Kahoot! to vote on what the characters did next.