MASON, Ohio — Zavyer LaGrandier is pacing around the living room with a gun.
In a few seconds, he's shouting. He throws a chair. He’s still holding the gun.
“Goodbye Rachel,” he says. “I’ll miss you.”
The Hamilton teen is practicing for a play. In the next scene, he shoots himself.
It’s a play about suicide, produced by high school students throughout the region and designed to start honest conversations.
"I've probably killed myself over 20 times,” LaGrandier said, referring to the play.
But his decision to audition for it is no laughing matter.
“I had a bottle of my medicine, and I was just thinking about I didn't want to go through it anymore,” he said. “I was thinking about just ending it all. And over and over again those thoughts went through my head.”
LaGrandier even taught himself how to tie a noose. Then, his grandmother took him to see this play. And the next year, he auditioned.
He said it saved his life.
The play, "Dead Serious About Life," is part of a nonprofit Mishpachah, a word that means “family” in Hebrew, run by Terri Hopton.
“Every four seconds, a teenager will attempt suicide,” Hopton said. “And nobody wants to talk about suicide."
Each year, students from all over the region audition for the play. Then, they take their production to schools across the state.
Hopton's been directing this play for decades. And at the end of each show, they invite the audience to talk to students in the play.
“It was like a trauma center,” she said of one show. “We had hundreds of kids pouring down the aisle.”
Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death for teens in Ohio. A problem that's only gotten worse since Hopton first wrote the play.
Grace O'Dell wears hearing aids and said she's been bullied most of her life. When the 17-year-old first joined the production, she wanted to stay in the background. She wore her hair down to hide her hearing aids.
Now, she's one of the stars of the show. And she wants to be a voice for others.
For LaGrandier, when asked what he wants people to take away from his story, he didn’t hesitate.
“I’m still alive,” LaGrandier said. “And alive isn’t the same as OK. But I’m still alive.”
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You can see the "Dead Serious About Life" play on the following dates:
- Saturday, June 8 at 6 p.m. at Southern State Community College in Hillsboro, Ohio
- Sunday, June 9 at 3 p.m. at Southern State Community College in Hillsboro, Ohio
- Friday, June 14 at 7 p.m. at Garfield Middle School in Hamilton, Ohio
If you or someone you love needs help, you can speak to someone today by dialing the Suicide and Crisis Lifelife at 988.
