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Characters / Bare: A Pop Opera

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Jason Mc Connell

The protagonist, resident Big Man on Campus and also extremely closeted jock.

  • Abusive Parents: It's implied that his dad is this to him and his mom is this to his sister.
  • The Ace: An athlete, valedictorian, and the lead in the school play.
  • Broken Ace: Jason is struggling with his sexuality as well as his relationship with his father, and later, with Ivy's pregnancy. It ends badly.
  • Chick Magnet: Every girl in school besides Nadia wants him. Too bad he can't reciprocate.
  • Daddy Issues: Toyed with in Plain Jane Fat Ass when Nadia jokes about their father's birthday check being a week later as usual and then driven home when we find out that he thinks his father would beat him if he came out.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Being outed is this for him.
  • Easily Forgiven: Zigzagged Peter quickly forgives him for cheating with Ivy, though once he finds out Jason did sleep with Ivy and lied about it and then tries to deny his relationship with Peter, Peter tells Jason he's had enough and walks out on him. Later, Jason is forgiven by Peter once again.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: The degree of which depends on the actor.
  • Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: A depressingly realistic version; Jason sleeps with Ivy after fighting with Peter about the future of their relationship and is fast to deny it when Matt outs him.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Jason is going through a lot but is still incredibly harsh when shutting down Peter when Peter tries to talk about their future and coming out. His reaction to finding out he got Ivy pregnant also counts.
  • Oblivious to Love: Had no clue about Ivy's feelings for him.
  • Popular Is Dumb: Averted, he's shown to be extremely smart.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The manly man to Peter's sensitive guy.
  • Trauma Conga Line: The musical is essentially this for him.

Peter Simmonds

Jason's best friend, roommate, and secret boyfriend. Though he's trying to get rid of the secret part.

  • All Gays Love Theater: Is very eager to audition for Romeo and Juliet.
  • Break the Cutie: Throughout the musical, Peter's boyfriend repeatedly shuts down his attempts to talk about their future, cheats on him, gets his friend pregnant, and then kills himself after finally letting Peter know he does want a future with him. Outside of that, the scene where he's desperately trying to come out to his mother who keeps trying to make excuses to hang up. Especially when he tells her he's been waiting to tell her since he was 12 and asks her to just be his mom.
  • Camp Gay: Pleasantly averted despite Peter being effeminate.
  • Cuddle Bug: Especially while inebriated.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Jason's suicide can be seen as this for him.
  • Grew a Spine: After Matt outs Jason and Jason tries to get Peter to lie about their relationship once more, Peter finally puts his foot down.
  • In Touch with His Feminine Side: His mother claims he even used to play with her makeup.
  • My Beloved Smother: His mother comes off as a mild version, though Peter doesn't seem to mind.
  • Nice Guy: There's not a mean bone in Peter's body.
  • Parental Abandonment: His dad left while he was a kid. His mother believes the divorce was caused by Peter being effeminate from a young age.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to Jason's manly man.
  • Sweet Tooth: Results in him eating too many pot brownies and majorly tripping.

Ivy Robinson

Peter and Jason's friend who Really Gets Around and is harboring a crush on Jason.

  • Alpha Bitch: Shows shades of this but mostly just towards Nadia who is just as, if not more so, mean to Ivy.
  • Becoming the Mask:
    Ivy: Now the portrait has captured the girl.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Her pregnancy.
  • Disappeared Dad: All Grown Up makes it sounds like this is her home situation which would make a lot of sense.
  • Dude Magnet: So much so that even Jason sleeps with her.
  • Functional Addict: Seems to have something of a problem with drug use and alcoholism but it doesn't seem to affect her outside of partying.
  • Good Bad Girl: Is apparently a huge slut but outside of a few mean lines directed towards Nadia, is quite nice.
  • Hidden Depths: Initially comes off as a shallow party girl but is later revealed to actually have issues and is also implied to be more playing into the image people have built of her than actually like that.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Toyed with in, once more, a depressingly realistic way. Most notably when she sings an entire number about how she doesn't want it and asks if she should follow someone else's vision (presumably getting married and possibly opting out of college to give birth) or trust her own (presumably getting an abortion).
  • Informed Poverty: It's implied that despite going to a boarding school, Ivy is actually poor but it's never really touched on.
  • Informed Wrongness: Some fanfics treat Ivy's feelings for Jason like this.
  • Really Gets Around: Nadia claims she never sleeps alone.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: During act two, though she wasn't really that mean to begin with.
  • Woman Scorned: After Jason accuses her of making up her pregnancy and demands to know why she's doing this to him.

Nadia Mc Connell

Jason's twin sister and Ivy's roommate who has low self esteem.

  • Abusive Parents: Her mother is implied to be emotionally abusive.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Zigzagged. Peter interferes when Nadia badmouths Ivy but nobody does anything when Ivy does the same. Granted, Nadia insults Ivy harsher and more excessively than Ivy does her.
  • Alone in a Crowd: Actually seems to have quite a few friends but definitely feels this due to her self induced isolation.
  • Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: It's implied that she and Ivy were genuinely friends in middle school. What happened to make them so hostile towards each other is up to interpretation.
  • Mommy Issues: Nadia's mother is the reason she's so hard on herself and is very heavily implied to be behind at least some of her self esteem issues.
  • The Unfavorite: Her parents don't make it a secret that they prefer Jason.
  • Weight Woe: Whether or not Nadia actually wants or tries to diet is unclear but her mother seems to want her to have this.

Matt Lloyd

Ivy's boyfriend who is Always Second Best to Jason.

  • Always Second Best: To Jason, as mentioned above.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: To Ivy. Given her reputation and her interest in Jason, this may not be all that unwarranted.
  • The Confidant: To Peter after the rave.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Jason gets the girl he's in love with pregnant. His response? Outing Jason.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: After Ivy's birthday party.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Making Ivy breaking up with him at her birthday party all the more painful to watch.
  • Loose Lips: He blurts out Peter and Jason's secret in front of the entire cast of the school play.
  • Nice Guy: Up until Ivy's birthday party, but he does clearly mean it when he apologizes before the play.
  • Wham Line:
    Matt: Ivy's pregnant and your boyfriend's the dad! So what does that make you?

Lucas Carter

One of Jason's friends. He claims to run a pharmacy.

Sister Chantelle

One of the nuns at the school, she's in charge of the theater department.

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