History Theatre / LoveInHateNation

''Love In Hate Nation'' is an original musical written by Creator/JoeIconis of ''Theatre/BeMoreChill'' fame. It premiered at the Two River Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey in November 2019. Set in The60s, it tells the story of sixteen-year-old Susannah Son, a Black aspiring musician who is sent to a girl's juvenile hall following a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]]. Run by the tyrannical Miss Asp, National Reformatory for Girls, or "Nation" for short, is a decrepit and oppressive institution where Susannah encounters all kinds of misfits -- including their leader, resident bad-girl Sheila Nail. Romances blossom, fights break out, and revolutions are born, all set to some catchy vintage tunes.

* AmbiguousCriminalHistory: It is never stated why Sheila or Ya-Ya are in prison. The [[WordofGod Love in Hate Nation Facebook page]] lists some reasons, but they are either too broad or possibly not related to the breaking point of the authorities.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Susannah clearly has depression and social anxiety, and both she and Sheila are revealed to have [[spoiler: attempted suicide before]], but it is unclear what the latter - or other girls may face. Ya-Ya and Miss Asp are also clearly intended to be read as mentally ill, but it's unclear exactly what they're dealing with, respectively.

* AmbiguousStartOfDarkness: [[WordofGod Word of God]] says that Miss Asp was progressive before she got sent to Nation, and it is made clear during canon that electroconvulsive "therapy" is what traumatized her into being bigoted and totalitarian. However, it is unknown when exactly during Miss Asp's time in juvie that she made that change.

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: According to [[WordofGod Word of God]], Miss Asp was actually progressive before being thrown into Nation at the behest of her father. During canon, after having been tortured by electroshock "therapy," she is oppressive and bigoted.

* CulturePolice: Miss Asp dislikes anything that does not conform to her white-bread cultural Puritanism, including [[WordOfGod rock music]].

** Susannah's adoptive family is harsh to her, sending her to juvie merely for [[DrivenToSuicide mental health reasons]]. According to [[WordOfGod Word of God]], they also do not pay much attention to her.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[WordofGod Word of God]] says that this is what happened to Miss Asp. However, whether she was a "good," neutral, or bad person who went too far with one mistake before her imprisonment at Nation is unknown.

''Love In Hate Nation'' is an original musical written by Creator/JoeIconis of ''Theatre/BeMoreChill'' fame. It premiered at the Two River Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey in November 2019. Set in TheSixties, it tells the story of sixteen-year-old Susannah Son, a Black aspiring musician who is sent to a girl's juvenile hall following a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]]. Run by the tyrannical Miss Asp, National Reformatory for Girls, or "Nation" for short, is a decrepit and oppressive institution where Susannah encounters all kinds of misfits -- including their leader, resident bad-girl Sheila Nail. Romances blossom, fights break out, and revolutions are born, all set to some catchy vintage tunes.

* BeehiveHairdo: It is TheSixties after all - many of the women have this.

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: "Miss Asp's Song II" has her wistfully listing all the things she misses about the comparatively more conservative [[TheForties '40s]] and [[TheFifties '50s]], which include silent movies, traditional gender roles, wartime American patriotism, and ''Hitler''.

* CostumeEvolution: The character's 60s prison get-ups compared to their costumes in the [[TheEighties epilogue]] give a lot of hints not just to the changing eras, but to the trajectories their lives have taken. Miss Asp's outfits get progressively fancier as well as she prepares for Life Magazine's impending visit.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: This mostly comes from the antagonists, Miss Asp and Francis, who respectively symbolize the conservatism the heroes must fight and the self-serving "college revolutionary" types who are no better than those they claim to be fighting. However, even some of the girls fall into this, too, it being TheSixties; outdated terms are used for Black people, many of the characters make casually racist remarks, and amongst the inmates, there's a lot of homophobia and transphobia. The difference is, of course, that the girls later overcome these views. This trope ties in pretty strongly with the themes of the show as the characters struggle with and eventually combat internalized bigotry, taking on views that are more popular today as they are inspired to form and join various social movements.

* LaResistance: Naturally, as it is TheSixties. The denouement of the show relies on a "Revolution in the institution," where Susannah overcomes her fears and leads the girls not only stage a prison break, but fight for civil, LGBT+, and feminist rights. Francis ''thinks'' he's a part of this, meeting Susannah at a demonstration for environmental conservationism, but he's still against gay rights and is more interested in appearing good than actually ''doing'' any good. He clearly uses his interracial relationship for social clout and personal gratification, still treating Susannah as his inferior and insisting she should be a homemaker.

* {{Retraux}}: The show premiered in the late 2010s, but is set in and musically styled after TheSixties.

* [[SeeminglyWholesomeFiftiesGirl Seemingly Wholesome '50s Girl]]: Subverted with Miss Asp, as the audience immediately knows she is the villain upon her introduction, but she puts on a front of being the 1950s United States's ideal of a woman. She wears modest clothing, acts submissive to men, and is "polite," even when psychologically abusing and oppressing the inmates of Nation.

* ShoutOut: Several, particularly to musicians, writers, and artists of TheSixties. Most significantly is the significant Morse Code rhythm shared between Sheila and Susannah, a direct reference to the beat of "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, of whom Susannah's a huge fan. Miss Asp, meanwhile, tries to push the girls to model themselves off of [[Series/LeaveItToBeaver June Cleaver]].

* StarCrossedLovers: Susannah and Sheila, an interracial lesbian couple in TheSixties who meet in an oppressive prison, have everything and everyone except their friends rooting against them.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: "And if we meet again/How I hope the world is different then!" [[spoiler: It is. And TheyDo.]]

* {{Frame-Up}}: [[spoiler: Susannah frames Sheila as nonconsensually trying to kiss her at the end of "Oh Well," when in reality Susannah wanted to kiss Sheila.]]

* [[HomophobicHateCrime]]: [[spoiler: Miss Asp burns her own daughter, Harriet, alive via electroshock therapy gone too far after catching her with another girl; the same fate is intended for Sheila, but thankfully averted.]]

* WeaponOfChoice: Ya-Ya's is dangerous chemicals and [[spoiler: a Molotov cocktail, the latter of which she uses to burn down Nation]].

''Love In Hate Nation'' is an original musical written by Creator/JoeIconis of ''Theatre/BeMoreChill'' fame. It premiered at the Two River Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey in November 2019. Set in TheSixties, it tells the story of sixteen-year-old Susannah Son, a Black aspiring musician who is sent to a girl's juvenile hall following a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]]. Run by the tyrannical Miss Asp, National Reformatory for Girls, or "Nation" for short, is a decrepit and oppressive institution where Susannah encounters all kinds of misfits - including their leader, resident bad-girl Sheila Nail. Romances blossom, fights break out, and revolutions are born, all set to some catchy vintage tunes.

* TheCakeIsaLie: [[spoiler: Miss Asp promises Judith a transfer to a different juvie hall if she continues to be her mole for information about the other inmates, but never actually follows through on this promise.]]

* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Miss Asp feels as though her First Amendment (free speech) rights are being threatened by the existence of oppressed minority groups because there is decreasing room for her to be able to "say whatever she wants" (i.e. be discriminatory).

* ComingOutStory: [[spoiler: Susannah tells the girls (minus Sheila) that she loves Sheila on impulse, simultaneously coming out as a lesbian after all her time of self-doubt and internalized homomisia.]]

* ADayInTheLimelight: "Masochist" is a song in the limelight for Kitty, following her journey towards defiant self-love in the face of the transmisia she's experienced.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: This mostly comes from the antagonists, Miss Asp and Francis, who respectively symbolize the conservatism the heroes must fight and the self-serving "college revolutionary" types who are no better than those they claim to be fighting. However, even some of the girls fall into this, too, it being TheSixties; outdated terms are used for Black people, many of the characters make casually racist remarks, and amongst the inmates, there's a lot of homomisia and transmisia. The difference is, of course, that the girls later overcome these views. This trope ties in pretty strongly with the themes of the show as the characters struggle with and eventually combat internalized bigotry, taking on views that are more popular today as they are inspired to form and join various social movements.

* DestructiveRomance: Susannah and Francis's romance is undoubtedly an emotionally abusive relationship. Francis dates Susannah solely because she is Black for social clout among his progressive college friends, and he attempts to coerce her into having sex with him - not to mention Francis also being racist, sexist, and homomisic towards her.

* FlashbackEcho: "This Is The Way" has Kitty instructing the girls to conjure something horrible someone has done or said to them, and then picturing that person [[ItMakesSenseInContext being eaten alive by ocelots]] as they inhale and exhale their cigarette smoke, in order to look "deeply tortured" and rebellious while doing so. Although it's PlayedForLaughs in this instance, Susannah frequently has less comedic flashbacks of cutting or painful things Francis has said to her, particularly the times he's tried to pressure her into sex or marriage, and insulted and berated her with racist and homomisic remarks when she refused him.

* {{Gayngst}}: The main plotline of the show is Susannah and Sheila struggling to overcome both institutional homomisia and their internalized homomisia, both brought on by U.S. 1960s society, and confess and manifest their mutual love for each other.

* [[HomophobicHateCrime Homomisic Hate Crime]]: Any homomisic hate crime is absolutely disgusting, but [[spoiler: ''burning a lesbian alive'']] is among the worst things anyone can do to a gay person.

* LyricalDissonance: Par for the course with a Joe Iconis work. The show's musical style is catchy and upbeat, said to be a riot grrl re-imagining of 60s Girl Group and blues tunes, with some early rock thrown in. The lyrics, meanwhile, aren't joking around from the get-go, discussing racism, psychiatric abuse, homomisia, transmisia, attempted suicide/suicidal thoughts, solitary confinement, betrayal and more.

* TheSongBeforetheStorm: "Oh Well," before [[spoiler: Miss Asp's violently homomisic reactions upon catching Sheila and Susannah about to kiss.]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Susannah:''' And... I love her.
-->''(The girls gasp.)'']]

[[spoiler: -->'''Susannah:''' And... I love her.

* FlirtingUnderFire: All of Susannah and Sheila's romance is this. Besides being in juvie, the two are in the racist, sexist, homomisic 1960s United States, being monitored constantly and punished severely for any hint of homosexuality. They risk their lives every time they flirt with each other.

%%* {{Hypocrite}}: Miss Asp, big time.

* ComingOutStory: [[spoiler: Susannah tells the girls (minus Sheila) that she loves Sheila on impulse, simultaneously coming out as a lesbian after all her time of self-doubt and internalized homophobia.]]

* ADayInTheLimelight: "Masochist" is a song in the limelight for Kitty, following her journey towards defiant self-love in the face of the transphobia she's experienced.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: This mostly comes from the antagonists, Miss Asp and Francis, who respectively symbolize the conservatism the heroes must fight and the self-serving "college revolutionary" types who are no better than those they claim to be fighting. However, even some of the girls fall into this, too, it being TheSixties; outdated terms are used for Black people, many of the characters make casually racist remarks, and amongst the inmates, there's a lot of homophobia and transphobia. The difference is, of course, that the girls later overcome these views. This trope ties in pretty strongly with the themes of the show as the characters struggle with and eventually combat internalized bigotry, taking on views that are more popular today as they are inspired to form and join various social movements.

* DestructiveRomance: Susannah and Francis's romance is undoubtedly an emotionally abusive relationship. Francis dates Susannah solely because she is Black for social clout among his progressive college friends, and he attempts to coerce her into having sex with him - not to mention Francis also being racist, sexist, and homophobic towards her.

* FlashbackEcho: "This Is The Way" has Kitty instructing the girls to conjure something horrible someone has done or said to them, and then picturing that person [[ItMakesSenseInContext being eaten alive by ocelots]] as they inhale and exhale their cigarette smoke, in order to look "deeply tortured" and rebellious while doing so. Although it's PlayedForLaughs in this instance, Susannah frequently has less comedic flashbacks of cutting or painful things Francis has said to her, particularly the times he's tried to pressure her into sex or marriage, and insulted and berated her with racist and homophobic remarks when she refused him.

* FlirtingUnderFire: All of Susannah and Sheila's romance is this. Besides being in juvie, the two are in the racist, sexist, homophobic 1960s United States, being monitored constantly and punished severely for any hint of homosexuality. They risk their lives every time they flirt with each other.

* {{Gayngst}}: The main plotline of the show is Susannah and Sheila struggling to overcome both institutional homophobia and their internalized homophobia, both brought on by U.S. 1960s society, and confess and manifest their mutual love for each other.

* HomophobicHateCrime: Any homophobic hate crime is absolutely disgusting, but [[spoiler: ''burning a lesbian alive'']] is among the worst things anyone can do to a gay person.

* LyricalDissonance: Par for the course with a Joe Iconis work. The show's musical style is catchy and upbeat, said to be a riot grrl re-imagining of 60s Girl Group and blues tunes, with some early rock thrown in. The lyrics, meanwhile, aren't joking around from the get-go, discussing racism, psychiatric abuse, homophobia, transphobia, attempted suicide/suicidal thoughts, solitary confinement, betrayal and more.

* TheSongBeforetheStorm: "Oh Well," before [[spoiler: Miss Asp's violently homophobic reactions upon catching Sheila and Susannah about to kiss.]]

* ComingOutStory: Susannah tells the girls (minus Sheila) that she loves Sheila on impulse, simultaneously coming out as a lesbian after all her time of self-doubt and internalized homophobia.
-->'''Susannah:''' And... I love her.
-->''(The girls gasp.)''

* CureYourGays: [[spoiler: Miss Asp tries to "cure" Harriet of being gay by forcing electroconvulsive [[BlatantLies "therapy"]] on her, which ends up killing her.]]

* FlashbackEcho: "This Is The Way" has Kitty instructing the girls to conjure something horrible someone has done or said to them, and then picturing that person [[ItMakesSenseInContext being eaten alive by ocelots]] as they inhale and exhale their cigarette smoke, in order to look "deeply tortured" and rebellious while dong so. Although it's PlayedForLaughs in this instance, Susannah frequently has less comedic flashbacks of cutting or painful things Francis has said to her, particularly the times he's tried to pressure her into sex or marriage, and insulted and berated her with racist and homophobic remarks when she refused him.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Miss Asp tries to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this when the girls revolt, citing her own abuse and troubled past, and the fact that she never had any choices. The girls aren't having it.

* OffingTheOffspring: Whether it's intentional or not, [[spoiler: Miss Asp was responsible for the death of her illegitimate daughter, Harriet.]]
* OhCrap: Susannah when she gets caught almost kissing Sheila in Asp's office; later, the girls all share one when Buzz drags Sheila back inside mid-escape plot.

* VillainousBreakdown: Miss Asp, big time.

--> ...and yes, I know he was psychotic/But villains make people act so patriotic!

* DangerouslyShortSkirt: Most of the girls in Nation roll or hem their already-short uniform skirts.

''Love In Hate Nation'' is an original musical written by Creator/JoeIconis of ''Theatre/BeMoreChill'' fame. It premiered at the Two River Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey in November 2019. Set in TheSixties, it tells the story of sixteen-year-old Susannah Sonn, a Black aspiring musician who is sent to a girl's juvenile hall following a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]]. Run by the tyrannical Miss Asp, National Reformatory for Girls, or "Nation" for short, is a decrepit and oppressive institution where Susannah encounters all kinds of misfits - including their leader, resident bad-girl Sheila Nail. Romances blossom, fights break out, and revolutions are born, all set to some catchy vintage tunes.

* AlliterativeName: Susannah Sonn and Dorothy Donaldson.

** Susannah ''Sonn'' (sounds like 'sun') wears a lot of yellow, and while her character struggles to find happiness, she is definitely full of light and kindness.

* ActingForTwo: Miss Asp and [[spoiler: Harriet]] look exactly alike not only due to them being [[spoiler: mother and daughter]] but also due to them being played by the same actress.

* LGBTFanbase: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]; the show is primarily about LGBT characters!

* NoYay: Susannah and Francis, primarily due to Susannah's not-yet-figured-out lesbianism, but also due to Francis's feeling of entitlement towards Susannah and general bigotry both towards everything that Susannah is and any identity that's not cisgender, white, and so on.

* WatchedItForTheRepresentation: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], considering that ''Love in Hate Nation'' is ''about'' representing the minorities that are oft-ignored.

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Sheila, practically a female [[Creator/JamesDean James Dean]] in dress, aura, reputation and in attitude, fits this trope to a T. When first realizing she has feelings for her, Susannah moons over her hair being "black as a feather".

* AmbiguousDisorder: Susannah is clearly depressed, and both she and Sheila are revealed to have [[spoiler: attempted suicide before]], but it is unclear what the latter - or other girls may face. Ya-Ya and Miss Asp are also clearly intended to be read as mentally ill, but it's unclear exactly what they're dealing with, respectively.

* AngryMobSong: "Revolution Song", naturally, as the girls plot their revolution and ultimately succeed in rioting and [[spoiler: burning down the prison]] to save Sheila and themselves.

* ArcWords: Plenty, "Sha-la-la" being the most significant.

* BadBadActing: Ya-Ya's solo at the party, "Jezebel", is intentionally awful.

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: According to [[WordofGod Word of God]], Miss Asp was actually progressive before being thrown into Nation at the behest of her father. During canon, after being tortured by electroshock "therapy," she is oppressive and bigoted.

* BigDamnKiss: At the end of "I Was A Teenage Delinquent", [[spoiler: Susannah and Sheila ''finally'' kiss after an entire show of buildup, just as Francis pulls up on his motorcycle in the background.]]

* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: Susannah and Sheila meet, bond, and fall in love during Act 1. At the end of Act 1, Miss Asp finds them and breaks them up and Susannah lies about Sheila forcing a kiss on Susannah. Susannah apologizes for her betrayal and she and Sheila make up in Act 2.

* BSODSong: The Act 1 finale, "I Hope" is one for Susannah after she [[spoiler: lies about Sheila out of fear and is locked up in Miss Asp's office for the night]], sending her into a downward spiral about her suicidal impulses, her guilt,her unwillingness to marry Francis, and seeming lack of options as a Black lesbian in the 1960's. Sheila's verse of "Solitary" also counts as she succumbs to despair after having her heart broken by Susannah.

* CabinFever: "Solitary". After the party goes south and Miss Asp starts her VillainousBreakdown, Act 2 opens with the girls getting restless and violent after being locked in their dormitory for eight days as punishment for drugging Buzz and stealing alcohol from Asp's office. Sheila, who's actually ''in'' solitary confinement, has the worst of this.

* CallForward: When Susannah sees Sheila for the first time early in Act 1, time seems to stop and she sings a line or two about how immediately awestruck she is. It's the tune of their FinalLoveDuet right near the end of the show, "I Was a Teenage Delinquent".

* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: "This is the Way" lists off various rebellious things that the inmates do, such as smoking cigarettes and buying contraband, that make them "badass."

* CounterpointDuet: "The Other One", which fittingly explores Susannah and Sheila's contrasting perspectives on being outcasts.
* CostumeEvolution: The character's 60's prison get-ups compared to their costumes in the [[TheEighties epilogue]] give a lot of hints not just to the changing eras, but to the trajectories their lives have taken. Miss Asp's outfits get progressively fancier as well as she prepares for Life Magazine's impending visit.

* DarkReprise: The tune of "This Is The Way" gets one in the bridge of "I Hope", and then there's also "Susannah's Song", which comes up whenever she needs to comfort herself in distressing or frightening situations.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Sheila wears a lot of dark colors, but she's one of the kindest, bravest girls in Nation, always willing to protect those around her and stand up for others.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: This mostly comes from the antagonists, Miss Asp and Francis, who respectively symbolize the conservatism the heroes must fight and the self-serving 'college revolutionary' types who are no better than those they claim to be fighting. However, even some of the girls fall into this, too, it being TheSixties; outdated terms are used for Black people, many of the characters make casually racist remarks, and amongst the inmates, there's a lot of homophobia and transphobia. The difference is, of course, that the girls later overcome these views. This trope ties in pretty strongly with the themes of the show as the characters struggle with and eventually combat internalized bigotry, taking on views that are more popular today as they are inspired to form and join various social movements.

* {{Demonization}}: Miss Asp is disgusted by every disprivileged identity, [[FemaleMisogynist including her own]], and thus attempts to make people disprivileged peoples' attempts at revolution appear terroristic and un-American.
* DestructiveRomance: Susannah and Francis' romance is undoubtedly an emotionally abusive relationship: Francis dates Susannah solely because she is Black for social clout among his progressive college friends, and he attempts to coerce her into having sex with him - not to mention Francis also being racist, sexist, and homophobic towards her.
* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Francis' increasingly harebrained schemes to spring Susannah from Nation so that they can get married. Susannah [[LampshadeHanging calls him out on this]], and not just for comedic effect; she's right to point out that his plans are putting her in danger while he risks very little.
* DistantDuet: Susannah and Sheila's part of "Solitary".

* ElectroconvulsiveTherapyIsTorture: Electroconvulsive "therapy" is explicitly portrayed as torture throughout "Love in Hate Nation," especially when it is revealed that [[spoiler: Harriet was killed by being burnt alive by said "therapy."]]

* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Revolution Song" and "I Was A Teenage Delinquent."

* FamilyOfChoice / CriminalFoundFamily: Despite their differences, once they finally band together to take down Nation, the girls, who have been orphaned, abused, abandoned, betrayed or otherwise forgotten by their families, all view each other as such, as they state in "Revolution Song".

* FinalLoveDuet: "I Was A Teen Delinquent", as Susannah and Sheila finally confess their feelings and share one last song and kiss [[spoiler: in the smoking rubble of the now-destroyed Nation, just before Sheila flees to Mexico on a motorcycle.]]

* ForbiddenLove: One of the central themes of the show. Susannah and Francis' [[DestructiveRomance "love"]] is forbidden because Susannah is Black and Francis is white, and Susannah and Sheila's love is forbidden because they are both girls and because Sheila is white.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "And if we meet again/how I hope the world is different then!" [[spoiler: It is. And TheyDo.]]
* {{Forgiveness}}: Sheila agrees to forgive Susannah for lying to Miss Asp that Sheila forced a kiss on Susannah.

* Frame-Up: [[spoiler: Susannah frames Sheila as nonconsensually trying to kiss her at the end of "Oh Well," when in reality Susannah wanted to kiss Sheila.]]

--> Which I think is delinquent for "you're charismatic, smart and sweet!"
* FreudianExcuse / DrivenToVillainy / WhenIWasYourAge: Miss Asp became a villain by being treated just as viciously as the inmates, thus having a schema of having to do the same to others in her mind.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: [[spoiler: Miss Asp uses the cruel things done to her as the reason for her doing the same to the inmates of Nation.]]

* GayAesop: Among many anti-bigotry aesops of "Love in Hate Nation" is to simply treat gay people well.

* GirlsLikeMusicians: Sheila finds Susannah's songwriting and ukulele playing [[EndearinglyDorky Endearingly Dorky]], and it's one of the reasons she has a crush on her ("her freaky ukulele"). Comes to a head when [[spoiler: Susannah visits her when she's in solitary and serenades her.]]

--> '''Miss Asp:''' I am beginning to suspect that something ''queer'' is going on around here!
* HaveIMentionedThatIAmHeterosexualToday: Susannah, when talking about Francis and her experiences with boys. She repeats over and over what a 'marvellous opportunity' marrying Francis, who is wealthy and white, would be, most likely repeating what she was told by him. When Sheila hears this, she offhandedly talks about the many flings she's apparently had with guys...[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial right before singing a duet where she bonds with Susannah]].
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: The love {{Leitmotif}} for Susannah and Sheila, even [[LampshadedTrope described as their heartbeats]] in "Oh, Well". [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that it has an in-universe plot purpose - the rhythm starts off as a Morse code message Susannah teaches Sheila, that they later use to communicate when [[spoiler: Sheila's in solitary]], leading into the song.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Judith, previously TheMole for Miss Asp and the toughest of the girls, as well as Sheila's enemy, finally comes around and is the first to sing in "The Revolution Song".]]

* IAmSong: Plenty. The tail end of Sheila's introduction in "The Three Failed Escape Attempts of Sheila Nail" is the most straightforward example. "The Other One" is one for both Sheila and Susannah, as the girls bond and discuss their respective views on being outcasts. Also, "Masochist", Kitty Minx's Act 2 showstopper about her pride in her trans identity. Finally, some parts of "Life In Hate Nation" that introduce each respective inmate are this, particularly Judith's verse.
* IHaveNoSon: [[spoiler: Miss Asp]] to her daughter for 'ruining her life' by being the result of a TeenPregnancy that led to her own incarceration and inability to get married. It reaches truly monstrous heights, such as [[CruelandUnusualDeath letting her fry to death]].

* ImpliedRape: [[spoiler:Judith]] is implied to have been raped by her father. It's not outright stated, but she cut off his penis and insists that it was an "appropriate response to the things he'd done to [her]."

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Most people, even Sheila, are skeptical of Susannah's love of [[GirlGroup Girl Groups]] and nonsense syllables in music. Lo and behold, "Operation Sha-La-La", whose name was derided by many of the inmates, became the name of Susannah's hit band.

* IWantSong: "Susannah's Song", as well as "I Hope", explore Susannah's depression and desperation as she struggles to find her place in the world as an adopted Black lesbian living in 1960s America with few to no role models. "Oh Well" might also be one as both Sheila and Susannah yearn to confess their feelings to each other despite the prejudice they face.

* JuvenileHell: Nation is hellish: inmates are regularly electroshocked for the slightest infractions, oppressed, and psychologically abused.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Miss Asp, a fire-and-brimstone tyrant who rules Nation with an iron fist first has her dreams crushed, then has Nation, which she helped build, burn down with her still in it - doubly poetic since it was her own hatred that got her daughter burned alive. She's seen in her last moments desperately pointing a camera at herself, desperately trying to get that perfect picture she wanted from Life Magazine.]]

* LaResistance: Naturally, as it is TheSixties. The denouement of the show relies on a "Revolution in the institution", where Susannah overcomes her fears and leads the girls not only stage a prison break, but fight for civil, LGBT+, and feminist rights. Francis ''thinks'' he's a part of this, meeting Susannah at a demonstration for environmental conservationism, but he's still against gay rights and is more interested in appearing good than actually ''doing'' any good. He clearly uses his interracial relationship for social clout and personal gratification, still treating Susannah as his inferior and insisting she should be a homemaker.

* LastHetRomance: Though the audience doesn't know what happens to Susannah in [[spoiler: the intervening twenty-two years before she and Sheila reunite]], we can assume that [[spoiler: her "romance" with Francis is this.]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: The "I fell in love in Juvie Hall" and "Sha-la-la" recurring melodies follow Susannah and Sheila around the show. Also, the rhythm "bum bum-bum" is present in many transitional and turning-point moments.

* LightIsNotGood: Miss Asp wears hyperfeminine pastels and florals, but her clinging to traditional expectations of womanhood is her weapon of choice in her truly heinous acts.
* LocationSong: "Life In Hate Nation", sung by the inmates when Susannah first arrives in juvie hall and first encounters the prison's decrepit state and intimidating roster of inmates.
* LockedintheDungeon: Sheila has been locked in solitary many times before canon, but she is also [[spoiler: locked in solitary again 'during' canon for "forcibly" kissing Susannah.]]

** InUniverse with Susannah's early music; Sheila points out the dissonance between the subject matter of Civil Rights songs she performs for her and her love of cheery nonsense syllables ("What's with all the sha-boop sha-boop?"), inspired by artists like the Ronettes. Susannah insists there's place for both - something they both realize when "sha la la" becomes the ArcWords for their burgeoning star-crossed romance.

* MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber: "Life In Hate Nation" and "Revolution in the Institution" are the two biggest examples, although the latter half of "Masochist" counts as well.

* MeaningfulEcho: Susannah's reprises of "Oh Well".

** More subtly, Judith Ramone could be a reference to the [[Literature/BookOfJudith Biblical Judith]], who beheads an enemy general who lusted after her. Famously, Baroque artist Creator/ArtemisiaGentileschi depicted the scene with herself as Judith and her rapist as Holofernes. Judith Ramone's crime? [[spoiler: She castrated her father after years of enduring his sexual abuse, removing another 'head'.]]

* MusicalisInterruptus: Happens a few times, but most significantly at the tail end of "The Other One", where Susannah and Sheila's bonding moment is interrupted by the other girls barging into the restrooms to discuss their plans.

--> '''Ya-Ya:''' My name is...

--> '''Ya-Ya:''' My ''name is''...
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Susannah has one at the end of Act 1 and in early Act 2 after [[spoiler: betraying Sheila out of fear of Miss Asp's abuse.]] She even gets two songs about it -- "I Hope" and her solo in "Solitary".

* NoSell: When Miss Asp tries to appeal to the girls during their revolt on the basis that she's gone through "as cruel and hateful things as what's been done to you" and citing her lack of choices. Susannah isn't impressed, standing her ground and letting Asp know that she has a choice ''now'' - to either stand with them or against them.

* ObsessivelyNormal: Miss Asp, as a result of societal conditioning and trauma which formed her beliefs, desperately wants to be a housewife in a male-female nuclear family with at least one child. She hates everything weird and different for the same reasons and will immediately (only try to, in some cases) stamp out anything weird and/or different.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Kitty is usually very friendly and dramatic for the fun of it; during "Solitary", however, [[Jerkass Judith]]'s callousness about the [[spoiler: murder of Harriet, which she caused, and the fact that Sheila will soon meet a similar fate]] provokes her to fight dirty, with her words and then her fists.

* OppositesAttract: The emotional, shy, fearful, stammering [[TheIngenue innocent]] Susannah, desperate to fit into society, and the aloof, tough, openly rebellious troublemaker who rejects social standards, Sheila, fall in love. They even share a song, "The Other One", about all the ways in which they differ despite both being outcasts.

* [[OutOfTheClosetIntoTheFire Out of the Closet, Into the Fire]]: This happens thrice before the events of the show and over the course of the show. Before the show, Kitty is outed or comes out as transgender to her father/parents and is sent to juvie hall, and [[spoiler: Harriet is caught with her love interest and is killed, making her love interest kill herself]]. During the show, [[spoiler: Miss Asp walks in on Susannah and Sheila's [[AlmostKiss Almost Kiss]] at the party and puts Sheila in solitary]].
* PastVictimShowcase: [[spoiler: Judith does this when explaining Harriet's [[ElectroconvulsiveTherapyIsTorture backstory]] and implying that Sheila might suffer the same fate.]]

* ParentalAbandonment: Sheila's a "ward of the state", and mentions being raised by nuns. Susannah's an orphan too, having lost her birth mother and father to suicide and war respectively. Both she and Kitty were thrown into Juvie at the behest of their (in Susannah's case, adoptive) fathers.

** Ya-Ya gets one during the confrontation with Asp.

* ProperLady: Miss Asp believes herself to be this and claims to want to shape the "garbage girls" in her care into this. A large part of Susannah's arc deals with her struggle with wanting to fit into this ideal (mostly associated with the safety and privilege 1960's American society would deny her because of her race) versus wanting to become who she truly is, a musician and a fighter for equality. Dorothy also champions herself as a "proper Southern homemaker through and through", but girly as she is, she's a lot more rebellious than the archetype would suggest.

* RhymingWithItself: During "Solitary", for comedic purposes.

* RightBehindMe: Miss Asp at the end of "Oh, Well", to disastrous results. It's PlayedForLaughs earlier during "This is the Way" when she comes up behind [[Cloudcuckoolander Ya-Ya]] continuing to jump around, shout and dance long after the song finishes.

* SanitySlippageSong: "Miss Asp's Song" and its reprise illustrate the character's motives and gradual VillainousBreakdown as she loses control of the prisoners.
* SayMyName: Every single one of the girls introduced in "Life In Hate Nation", particularly Judith Ramone. Sheila Nail gets quite a few in "The Three Failed Escape Attempts of Sheila Nail", while "Susannah's Song" and"Francis' Song" both do this to Susannah.

* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Francis, a college campus liberal, plans on fleeing to a commune in Mexico full of "like-minded youths experimenting with fascinating new drugs".
* SettingIntroductionSong: "Life In Hate Nation".

* TheSomethingSong: An Iconis staple; "Susannah's Song", "Miss Asp's Song" (and its reprise), "Francis' Song", and of course, "Revolution Song".

--> '''Rat:''' She's from New Jersey.
* SourOutsideSadInside: Judith Ramone, the toughest girl other than Sheila, acts the most like a bully [[spoiler: as a result of a lifetime of experiencing racism and sexual abuse.]]

--> '''Susannah:''' I guess the world isn't ready for two girls going steady...
** [[EntitledToHaveYou Francis]] sees himself and Susannah as this because of their racial difference, and plans to reap the social clout from this viewpoint amongst other 'revolutionaries' at Columbia University.

* TransTribulations: [[spoiler: Kitty is deadnamed by Judith during "Solitary," enraging her enough to fight Judith.]]

* TrueBlueFemininity: The uniform of Nation, meant to push conformity and "elegance, behaviour and subservience" onto the girls, is a blue plaid skirt. Additionally, Dorothy, the most feminine of the girls, wears a frilly blue cherry-print top.

* VillainSong / VillainousLament: "Miss Asp's Song" and its reprise discuss her conservative world views and the internal struggle that led to them, as well as her anguish and horror in the face of a changing world when she had no choices as a woman. To a lesser extent, "Doc Shock" and "Francis' Song."
* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: The girls find that there is no other way to put up their resistance when the escape plan for Sheila goes south, especially considering the institutional violence done to them.

--> ''(beat))''
--> ...and yes, I know he was psychotic/but villains make people act so patriotic!

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Miss Asp believes her cruel impositions are for the girls' own good...at least until the SanitySlippage sets in.

* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: [[spoiler: Susannah gives one to Miss Asp at the inmates' reveal of Operation Sha-La-La, affirming her pride in being Black and self-proclaimedly weird, along with stating how none of the inmates deserved to be dehumanized because of their identities.]]

* YouAreWorthHell: Susannah risks severe punishment when she sneaks into Solitary to tell Sheila the plan to bust her out, and even risks getting caught when she plays their love song for her in the hallway despite Sheila's warnings. She is willing to face whatever Asp might do to her if it means breaking Sheila out of solitary confinement and rescuing her from abusive administration of [[ElectricTorture ECT]]. In turn, Sheila ''risks her life'' physically fighting Miss Asp and Buzz not once, but twice, to defend Susannah.

* GASP: The inmates' reaction when [[spoiler: Susannah declares to them her love for Sheila]].
* Gayngst: The main plotline of the show is Susannah and Sheila struggling to overcome both institutional homophobia and their internalized homophobia, both brought on by U.S. 1960s society, and confess and manifest their mutual love for each other.

* TheEasyWayortheHardWay: When Susannah and the other inmates are [[spoiler: inciting their revolution against Nation,]] Susannah tells Miss Asp that [[spoiler: she can either rebel and be in the girls' favor or stick to her old ways and be their enemy.]]

* Delinquents: All the inmates—literally; they're in a prison for juvenile delinquents.

-->'''The girls:''' ''(gasp)''

* CruelandUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Harriet is ''burnt alive'' by electroshock "therapy."]]

* DadsOffFightingintheWar: Susannah's birth father was shot and killed in combat during an unspecified war.

* AmbiguousStartofDarkness: [[WordofGod Word of God]] says that Miss Asp was progressive before she got sent to Nation, and it is made clear during canon that electroconvulsive "therapy" is what traumatized her into being bigoted and totalitarian. However, it is unknown when exactly during Miss Asp's time in juvie that she made that change.

* AppealtoForce: Aside from Miss Asp being able to negatively change the inmates' futures if they are insubordinate, she can [[spoiler: and will]] order an inmate to be shocked for disobedience.

[[caption-width-right:350: Revolution in the institution!]]

''Love In Hate Nation'' is an original musical written by Joe Iconis of ''Theatre/BeMoreChill'' fame. It premiered at the Two River Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey in November 2019. Set in TheSixties, it tells the story of sixteen-year-old Susannah Sonn, a Black aspiring musician who is sent to a girl's juvenile hall following a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]]. Run by the tyrannical Miss Asp, National Reformatory for Girls, or "Nation" for short, is a decrepit and oppressive institution where Susannah encounters all kinds of misfits - including their leader, resident bad-girl Sheila Nail. Romances blossom, fights break out, and revolutions are born, all set to some catchy vintage tunes.

* FlirtingUnderFire: All of Susannah and Sheila's romance is this. Besides being in juvie, the two are in the racist, sexist, homophobic 1960s United States, being monitored constantly and punished severely for any hint of gayness. They risk their lives every time they flirt with each other.

* IHaveNoSon: [[spoiler: Miss Asp]] disowns her daughter for [[spoiler:being a lesbian]], to the point of [[CruelandUnusualDeath letting her fry to death]].

* ShippingTorpedo: Miss Asp [[spoiler: for Susannah and Sheila when she forces Sheila into solitary, and to deadly extents with Harriet and her lover.]]

* SchoolgirlLesbians: Susannah and Sheila, sixteen and seventeen respectively, although they're teens in a juvie facility rather than a school - they do have the matching plaid uniforms, though.