Having first appeared in a small, black-box theater in a Minnesota church basement, Angst: The New Teen Musical has taken the leap all the way to New York City. Fringe NYC welcomes the star of the Minnesota Fringe Festival of '06; one of the Festival's top selling shows, Angst -- written, directed and performed entirely by teenagers -- was so popular that it received an encore performance. This summer at FringeNYC, prepare to enter the daunting world of high school, complete with sex, drugs and myspace, as you uncover the secrets of a teenager's life in the 21st century, through the lens of the new and explosive musical, Angst.

Celeste Busa, the 18-year-old co-writer and director of Angst, also plays the role of Whitnee, the popular, flirtatious homecoming queen of "'04, '05, and cross your fingers...'06!" Celeste describes Angst as her baby; although it started as a joke, Celeste and her friends nurtured it until it grew into a full-scale musical. The script was a collaborative project, created by piecing together individual scenes that the teenagers had written in small groups. Originally imagined as a satire, the characters of Angst represent various high school stereotypes, such as the stoner kid, the indecisive homosexual and the drunken party girl. As the show developed, these stereotypical teenagers transformed into dynamic and truthful characters, each embodying one aspect of the respective actor's personality. The magic of Angst is ignited by its talented teenage cast as they portray themselves and their friends with absolute sincerity.

Among Angst's young talents is Eric Mayson, composer and lyricist. Angst features original musical numbers, including "My Life Sucks," "What? You're Gay?" and "I'm Pregnant. Surprise!?" Similar to current rock musicals, Angst artistically employs song to further the plot, as well as generating a high-energy pulse that emanates from the gifted teenage performers.

Many of these gifted teens were acquaintances even before beginning work on the musical. Celeste Busa and others, including Eric Mayson and Ross Orenstein (co-director), knew each other from their high school, St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. St. Paul Conservatory provided them with training in theater, and many of the cast members have also been involved in numerous theatrical productions outside of school. When casting Angst, Celeste adds that she had fellow classmates and friends in mind for various roles beforehand, but still held open auditions. Although she confesses it felt a little strange to be auditioning friends, it was for the best, as the ensemble turned out to be a group of exceptional artists who work together beautifully.

The cast has not only managed to create an ensemble onstage, but offstage as well. Through the adventure of creating and performing a musical, they shared much of themselves with each other, and last April, when the envelope from FringeNYC arrived, either accepting or rejecting their application, Celeste describes the company gathering around the unopened letter in anticipation. "We didn't know if that meant yes or no," she explained. When the letter was opened, the cast was thrilled to discover that they were on their way to New York.

Although Angst targets teenagers with its pop culture references, Celeste Busa believes that "anyone who has had a high school experience" will be able to relate to this musical, whether they connect with the myspace-obsessed Tom, or with the awkward creative writing teacher, Mr. King. While retaining its satirical nature, Angst enlightens its audiences, sharing insights about the high school experience, and about teenagers' hopes, doubts, struggles and desires.