What you know (Hamilton cast)

Seventeen

"I was born not too far from this school, only a few blocks away. Most of my elements school concerts were in this auditorium as I'm sure yours were and I was an average kid with a normal life, who liked to sing and dance a lot. My mom had been very interested in theater, she had an amazing voice that unfortunately I can't remember all too well. She sang musicals instead of nursery rhymes. In 1996, Rent went on broadway and she sang that instead of what you might normally sing to a baby." A few kids laugh. "But it all worked out. I grew up loving theater, never said that I didn't want to go to classes, I honestly didn't miss one my first three years of it. During that time, when I was seven, my mom caught my dad cheating on her. He was having an affair with my aunt." That surprised a few people. "She did nothing about it, at all. They married young, my dad was aggressive, my mom was passive, they had their issues, but she was so passive about this, my dad took complete advantage of this and abused her. He neglected me, which was better then being hurt, but with my mom hurt, I didn't have anyone to really take care of me and I started going to class alone when I was eight." I pause. "Scrawny eight year old girls on the streets of lower manhattan are easy targets. I was taken off Overlook ter, when I got lost around six in the afternoon, tied up, and raped." By the way, only upperclassmen are here. "A power of scrawny eight yet olds, are fitting in small places like vents. I don't know what happened to this man. I never went to the police, I just ran straight into the hands of another rapist. My beloved father. So, I didn't know what exactly had happened to me. This is why I never spoke up. My mom died when I was nine, her sister killed herself, and he used me instead. So the horrible sex ed lessons in fifth grade began and we learned some basics of what it was and I asked if parents and their kids did the same thing. After a short trip to the nurse, I became a foster kid. Yay. I'm with a family that likes me. They don't rape me! They support my singing and dancing. They help me with my lines. I distracted myself from my childhood with schoolwork and I worked my butt off and I got a scholarship to a private school. I was always doing homework and studying because I just didn't want time to think about my life. And the mom gets pregnant. Oh no, they only want one kid. Next home. A really great one. A musical theater loving family. The mom was even a music teacher who taught me and sent me to dance classes until her brother shot her and her husband. I didn't know the dad as well but he was really kind and it was really unfortunate. Another home. 'Okay, Kelsey, you're twelve. You can fend for yourself.' And it was great. I wasn't allowed to go to my school anymore. I went to the local middle school and made friends that lasted through all of school. My friend Jessica who I went to lunch with just yesterday, actually. We met and she didn't let me starve to death. I got moved out of that home because they were done with me. The other half of the year, I spent with a family that was verbally abusive, ran away as soon as finals were over. No one caught me for two weeks because no one but Jessica noticed. My social worker took me out of the home and in one of who turned out to be another rapist. I've been through middle school now, I understand it and I speak up to my favorite teacher after class one day. New home. Non abusive, next home, abusive, finally, a group home until graduation. Now that that part is over, here's what was good about high school. The classes I chose all advanced my knowledge in musical theater, or my other interests in painting and web design. You don't have to have one interest. I didn't go to college from graduation but I know enough to know that they don't want to see that you can do one single thing. You guys have already applied or you're going to next year, I know, but same thing with jobs. Some of my special skills on my resume would make you blink your eyes and look again because they aren't anything I'm auditioning or applying for. They're like coding, painting, programing. There isn't a musical about computer programing. There's a lot but, not that one.
Anyways, I was in six school plays and musicals and was a techie for two. That was a lot of fun. High school is fun. I know it seems terrible and for some kids, it can be. It was my first year and I hated school but I miss seeing my friends everyday and being forced to learn. You're learning some useful stuff. Especially you guys. If you want to learn anything like this when you grow up, it costs money. And it's self motivation or could cost you your job. One grade in high school is not going to cost you your job. So, when your teacher says, 'hey, I want this three page essay done by Friday,' you're learning how to get something done on time so that you wont lose your job. I've temped enough to experience this. Those jobs were right out of high school. Like I said, I didn't go to college right out of high school so you're probably wondering why I would be saying anything to you guys about your futures if I couldn't even stay on that track that gets people jobs. I didn't apply for a scholarship because I was depressed senior year and made a plan to kill myself ten days after graduating. My friend, Eric, who recently passed, totaled his car, chased me to the edge of a bridge, and threw us both into oncoming traffic before dragging us both away from our almost certain deaths. I love Eric. That was so amazing that I never came close to attempting suicide again. And after all of that, he found my biological cousin too. Eric was killed last year. He went to this school. Seniors, you went to school with him here, I'm sure you remember it, and juniors probably heard about it because he was an amazing person and student. He's greatly missed by many people.

"Before and after he passed, I was a temp. I worked a little in retail, a few okay jobs, but I started out as-" I look at Mr.Gray, who knows what I'll say. He nods. "I started as a stripper and then a prostitute. It was a year and almost a half before I got a job that didn't involve any of that. A very small show that lasted three months at a tiny theater nearby, and a slightly bigger one that lasted four. Then, I auditioned for Hamilton. I was the youngest but I somehow made it. It shocked me. I never moved. I still live in my old apartment because I saved for school instead of rent in a nicer neighborhood, but I spent so much time there anyways. We rehearsed for a few weeks before we actually got to join them and met some really great people with really big hearts and incredible talent. I honestly still don't know how I got there but I'm so glad I did. Also, I'm back in school, online, getting a degree in bookkeeping, have some broadway credits and some new friends. Happy ending, I guess. Not entirely. I can't forget the last but just because I had a brutal one, doesn't mean I can't have a good future. Not applying to college, which you should do, though, doesn't mean I can't go and get a degree. Failing twenty auditions, doesn't mean you'll fail every one. I don't know if any of this inspired anyone here because I've never done this, but I hope that it either made you want to go after what you live when it doesn't go right, or just thinking that you're stuck where you are and the world is just never going to let you get to the other side of the tracks." From there, I talk about rehearsals and performing and what it's like to have this job but the hard part is out of the way.