Welcome to the Moth Podcast.
I'm Kate Tellers, and on this episode, timeless love.
To celebrate Valentine's Day, we'll be exploring first loves and last loves.
Loves that last a lifetime and loves that fade away after a few days.
Our first story is about first love.
Tate Russell told this at a Twin Cities Grand Slam where the theme of the night was crash course.
Here's Tate live at the Mock.
It is the most exciting day for any theater kid,
and that's the day when the cast list for the High School Musical comes out.
I get out of my first hour class, I rush on over to the music room,
I take a look at that cast list, and I see that the worst possible scenario has happened.
I see my name right at the top of that list.
I've been cast as the gregarious confidence trickster Harold Hill, the lead in the Music Man.
But that's not the bad part.
Right underneath my name, next to Marion Peru, the love interest, is the name of my ex girlfriend.
My mother actually knew about this casting decision before I did.
She was one of the directors on the show,
but she had removed herself from the casting process when it came to my ex and me.
And at that point, I kind of wished that she hadn't because my ex and I were on bad terms.
She did not want to interact with me, and she made sure that I knew that.