Some Kind of Hero: LIVE!

Some Kind of Hero: LIVE! is the one hundred and twenty-ninth episode of Off Book: The Improvised Musical. The episode was recorded live at Chop Suey in Seattle, WA on February 23, 2020. After a weird situation that involved her friends hiding in her closet, Stephanie becomes a beholder of new superpowers. Along with her newly-labelled mentor Brian, they find ways to be some kind of heroes.
== Episode Description ==
Live from Seattle, Zach and Jess bring you an all new musical packed with online streaming services, superpowers, and more! With songs like “We Gotta Stay Quiet In Our Best Friend’s Closet”, “What Is Broken Trust? If It’s Over Disney Plus”, and “It’s Fun To Come Out of a Cake For Sure!”, it’s a musical that follows a hero’s journey as they discover their superpowers! Official Episode Description
==Plot==
=== Act I===
For the past three years, two of Brian’s best friends have been sneaking into his house for two hours every Tuesday night while he’s out in order to use his high-end gaming PC. When Brian unexpectedly comes home early one night, they hide inside his closet so as to not be found (“We Gotta Stay Quiet In Our Best Friend’s Closet”). They discover that Brian’s nightly routine involves him talking aloud and narrating what he is doing. Unable to hold themselves back and also trying to distract from their own wrongdoing, his friends promptly blow their covers by giggling and making fun of him. 
The next day at the library, Stephanie helps Brian check out the book War and Peace. Brian relays the events of the previous night, confiding in her that even though he doesn’t like that they’ve been breaking into his house, he’s more upset that they just didn’t ask him to use his PC. When he asks her if she’s ever experienced anything similar, Stephanie begins to worry over the possibility of her friends doing the same to use her mother’s Disney+ subscription and various streaming services (“What Is Broken Trust? If It's Over Disney Plus”).
Meanwhile at Stephanie’s condo, her friends, Rachel and Candace, have in fact been doing exactly that. While hiding underneath Stephanie’s high four-poster bed, the two of them agree they actually want to be caught by her at this point. They thought they would get caught immediately, but now a month has gone by. Not only is it not funny anymore, but now that too much time has passed, they don’t know how to tell her the truth. They come up with the idea of getting her a cake, but it’s clear Rachel is more interested in hiding inside and bursting out of said cake—something she’s always wanted to do ("It's Fun to Come Out of a Cake for Sure!"). Candace reminds her that the point of this is to make amends with Stephanie, and Rachel agrees to do another plan.
Before they can do anything, however, Stephanie comes home and immediately guesses correctly that they’ve been breaking in to use her streaming subscriptions. As it was such a specific guess, she wonders if she has had superpowers this whole time. After testing it out with her friends, Stephanie learns that she has the telepathic power to know what someone is currently doing wherever they are in the world, as long as she has met them before. For example, she knows her old swim teacher is currently taking a sample of chicken teriyaki at Costco. Rachel and Candace are impressed, but mostly relieved that this takes the attention off of what they’ve done. Stephanie realizes she can use this power to save people and anticipates going on a hero’s journey to learn and grow as a hero (“Some Kind of Hero”).
At Costco, Kyle the swim teacher continues to take samples from Diane, a Costco employee. Diane points out that he’s been hanging around her for a while and encourages him to go try other samples. Kyle confesses that he’s not actually here for the samples—he’s just lonely. Ever since his wife died, he’s been too afraid to swim or date again (“Get Back in the Pool, Kyle”). But with her encouragement, he manages to ask Diane to go on a swan paddle boat date with him.
Back at Stephanie’s condo, Stephanie is trying to learn more about her power, but Rachel and Candace are too distracted watching The Mandolorian to help. Rachel and Candace complain that Disney was too slow with their marketing and merchandise for "Baby Yoda". Luckily, they were able to get unofficial merchandise off Etsy, and the two of them expound on the many kinds of items you can purchase from the site (“Magnets on Etsy”/”Cups on Etsy”).
Stephanie reminds her friends that she still needs to figure out how her power works. Not only is she starting to taste flavors associated with the people she’s telepathically linked to, Stephanie is also getting the sense that something is going to go wrong with her swim teacher. Candace suggests this might be the “call to action” part of her hero’s journey, and Stephanie agrees, pointing out that her two friends have really been prolonging her hero’s journey. Despite this, Stephanie asks if Rachel and Candace will come along with her as her sidekicks. They agree as long as Rachel gets to come out of a cake and Candace gets to wear a cape and a mask (“Do I Get a Costume?”). They decide to split up: Stephanie will start on her journey while Rachel and Candace go to a Jo-Ann Fabrics store to assemble costumes.
===Act II===
While talking to herself aloud, Stephanie runs into Brian. Telling him about her newfound powers, she informs him that his best friends are still in his closet, much to his chagrin. However, they’re not enjoying it: after being caught, they’re now too afraid to use his PC and are just hanging out in his closet. 
Stephanie tells Brian that she’s looking for a mentor figure to help facilitate her hero’s journey, and he suggests looking in stereotypical places a mentor would be in like a cave, the end of a desert, or a junkyard. When she learns that Brian has a day-job at the junkyard, Stephanie excitedly proclaims him a “reluctant mentor” that maybe has forgotten his own powers and suggests the two of them are destined to bring out the other’s powers.
Brian denies that he has any powers and the idea that he could teach Stephanie anything, insisting he’s just going to go to his normal job at the junkyard where he crushes cars into blocks and stacks them—with his mind (“I Don’t Know, You’re Definitely Some Kind of Hero”). Stephanie tells him that’s not something that normal people can do. They decide to team up and work together, though they're not sure how exactly they're going to operate as superheroes quite yet. 
Under Stephanie’s navigation, they arrive at the lake where Kyle and Diane's date is taking place. Stephanie and Brian discuss how they might use their powers to save whoever might be in trouble here. Brian realizes that his power is much more villainous than Stephanie’s as he could crush things with people inside them. But Stephanie points out that it’s how you use the power that’s important—after all, her power can easily be considered an invasion of privacy. This makes the two of them realize that the morality of superpowers is a lot more complex than they initially thought and wonder if it’s better for them to not use their powers at all (“Sit Here and Pretend to be Normal”).
Brian suggests they only use them to save people’s lives, but he realizes that that’s easier said than done considering his power just crushes things into cubes. They try to suggest normal and responsible ways they could use their powers, but realize they don’t want to be boring and decide to become heroes anyway.
Meanwhile, Rachel and Candace are trying to get a baker to make a large, wearable cake that Rachel can use as a costume. The baker informs her that he can make the cake, but he can’t make it wearable—they’ll have to go to a Jo-Ann Fabrics for that. They bring the baker to a Jo-Ann Fabrics, where, after purchasing the felt needed for Candace’s cape and mask, they ask the baker and the Jo-Ann Fabrics employee to collaborate on Rachel’s cake costume. 
The baker and the employee vehemently refuse as they have too much history. Their one and only collaboration was their son, Tyler, who they love very much, but they will never work together ever again. Eventually, however, the two of them give in, coming together for one last collaboration and creating the costume in an electric display of teamwork and passion (“We Couldn’t Possibly Do One More”). Outfitted in their new costumes, Rachel and Candace go to meet up with Stephanie and Brian.
Despite the lake being both small and manmade, Kyle and Diane realize they have somehow gotten lost on their swan paddleboat. As a storm begins to brew and the waters become choppy, Diane admits to Kyle that she does not know how to swim. Kyle tells her that although he would have the skills to save her, he doesn’t know if he will be able to get over his mental block and jump into the water. 
Back on shore, Stephanie and Brian debate whether or not they should step in. Brian wonders if it would be better to give Kyle the opportunity to overcome his fears and save Diane. While Stephanie thinks they should help and celebrate afterward with cake, she acknowledges that they don’t know how the pair will react to a bunch of mysterious ice cubes appearing near the boat. 
As they decide to wait and see what will happen, a wave hits the boat and knocks Diane overboard ("Diane!/Get Back In The Pool, Kyle (Reprise)"). Kyle finds himself unable to go in after her, much to his distress, and Brian creates giant ice cubes in the water near them. The sight of them floating in the water fills Kyle with courage, and he dives in and rescues Diane, pulling her up onto one of the cubes. Diane, having played a lot of Zelda, suggests that they hop from cube to cube to make it to shore.
Upon making it safely to shore, they are greeted by the others gathered there. Diane and Kyle thank the group for saving their lives, proclaiming all four of them to be “some kind of hero”. Kyle also thanks Diane, saying she’s a hero too for giving him the courage to get back into the pool. This makes Brian and Stephanie come to the realization that sometimes, being a hero is not just about powers and saving people—it’s also about knowing when to step back and give people the opportunity to save themselves (“Now I Know How I Wanna Be Some Kind Of Hero”).
Show/Hide
==Musical Cast==
===Jessica McKenna===
*Brian's friend #2
*Stephanie
*Rachel, Stephanie's friend
*Diane, Costco worker
*Jo-Ann Fabrics worker
===Zach Reino===
*Brian's friend
*Brian
*Candace, Stephanie's friend
*Kyle, swim teacher
*Baker
==Talkback Cast==
===Jessica McKenna=== 
*Denise, set designer
*Melanie Whippets, stunt coordinator
*Researcher #2
*Legal team member
===Zach Reino=== 
*Producer
*Researcher
*Legal team member #2
*Synchronized swimming coach
==Songs==
*"We Gotta Stay Quiet in Our Best Friend's Closet"
*"What Is Broken Trust? If It's Over Disney Plus"
*"It's Fun to Come Out of a Cake for Sure!"
*"Some Kind Of Hero"
*"Get Back In The Pool, Kyle"
*"Magnets on Etsy"
*"Cups on Etsy"
*"Do I Get a Costume?"
*"I Don't Know, You're Definitely Some Kind Of Hero"
*"Sit Here And Pretend To Be Normal"
*"We Couldn't Possibly Do One More"
*"Diane!/Get Back In The Pool, Kyle (Reprise)"
*"Now I Know How I Wanna Be Some Kind Of Hero"
Cut Song: 
*"A 1000 Ways To Swim In A Pool"
==Gallery==
File:Some Kind Of Hero.jpg
==References==
Category:Episodes
Category:Live episodes
Category:Super Heroes
Category:Completed plot summary