About

Childish is an audio drama musical from Whale Bus, the makers of The Van and Looking Back at Tomorrow. A 5-episode limited series, installments are available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, where you can also find a trailer. Transcripts are also available on our episodes page.

Story

In this musical comedy, Dante, a college student in NYC, becomes an RA in order to follow in the footsteps of his hero, Childish Gambino. While he hopes this will be the next step toward becoming a famous rapper, his delusions of grandeur are shattered when he realizes his dweebish co-workers are hellbent on making his life miserable.

DANTE

The one who needs respect. 

Dante is a junior in college and a first-year RA. While he is a gifted math major and a bit of a geek, he doesn’t let it show. His real passion is rap, and he dreams of one day being as famous as his idol, Childish Gambino.

Dante worships Gambino and seeks to pattern his path to stardom after his hero. This means doing everything Gambino did, from going to school in New York to becoming an RA. He thinks he could be the next Childish Gambino, and he wants everyone else to think so too. 

Portrayed by Reginald Keith Jackson

CONNIE

The one who needs to be liked.

Connie is really sweet but she’s a mess because “oh my god you guys I just can’t. I have so much work and I’m literally going to die.”

Whereas other RAs might at least pretend to have it all figured out, Connie doesn’t even try. She’s changed majors multiple times, and it’s quite clear that she’s put much more on her plate than she can handle. She is in constant fear of losing her job, especially because she desperately needs it financially.  

Unfortunately, whether consciously or not, the other RAs often take advantage of her kindness by constantly asking for favors from her, only making her pile of commitments grow.

Portrayed by Katherine D’Souza

RICKY

The one who needs attention. 

If Taylor finds success by doing things “the right way,” then Ricky does so by doing things...well, the other way. 

It’s frankly amazing that Ricky was re-hired as an RA his senior year, seeing as he is easily the laziest and most disorganized member of the team. What might even be more astonishing, perhaps, is how much his Boss loves him. 

Ricky knows that he doesn’t ever have to do his job, so long as he does it when the boss is looking. Worse, this snitch is more than willing to make himself look good at the expense of his co-workers.

Portrayed by Brendan McGrady

TAYLOR

The one who needs power.

Taylor is the best at everything. And if she’s not, she needs to be the best. She knows no way of doing things other than perfectly, and as a result can often be a bit competitive. 

A senior on the pre-law track, her role as a returning RA is a great opportunity for her to hone her skills in leadership, communication and, most importantly, networking. 

As they watch her cozy up to the boss and go the extra mile in all of her responsibilities, the other RAs jokingly refer to Taylor as “Star-A.” The joke’s on them, though, because she’s the brightest star on the team.

Portrayed by Kaila Wooten

Twitter/Insta: @kaila_wooten

DUNCAN

The one who needs sex. 

Duncan is really pretty. They don’t call him “Dunc the hunk” for nothing. That also happens to be his only marketable personality trait.  

He goes to the gym a lot and did he mention he goes to the gym a lot? When he’s not at the gym, you might catch Duncan vaping or sleeping with one of the many residents whose hearts he’s broken. Duncan goes about his business without any interest in bothering the other RAs, but his many serious policy violations leave him on the constant verge of being fired.

Portrayed by Victor Vazquez

Twitter/Insta: @victor_tdk

STEPHANIE

The boss who needs to be a part of everything. 

Stephanie (commonly addressed as RHAD Stephanie) is the Residence Hall Assistant Director at Zizza Hall, and she wants you to know that she’s really “woke.”

The second-in-command at the dorm, Stephanie is the RAs’ superior and primary point of contact among the leadership team, constantly keeping them in check. 

Stephanie encourages the RAs to talk to her as a friend when they are in need, yet is often unreasonable in actual situations. She constantly has her nose in everyone’s business and is over-sensitive to everything, without ever realizing when she is the offender.

Portrayed by Jillian Sun

Insta: @jill.sun

Website: www.jilliansunactor.com

Rye Dorsey - Co-creator / Writer (Ep. 4 & 5) / Director (Ep. 1-3) / Recording Engineer / Sound Designer

Zachary Goldberg - Co-creator / showrunner / Lyricist / writer (ep. 1) / Director (Ep. 4) / Sound Designer

Rye Dorsey is one of the hosts of Planet Tomorrow and also a co-founder of Whale Bus. In between listening to ungodly amounts of podcasts, she enjoys increasingly obscure Simpsons quotes and reading bad ‘90s sci-fi books.

Favorite Rap Album: The Low End Theory

Twitter: @Dorsel_Fin

RA Zachary is a co-founder of Whale Bus and a co-host of one of its podcasts, Planet Tomorrow. His many passions include musical theatre writing, swing dancing, and theme park history, among other things. but if there is one thing he wants you to remember, it’s that he was once crowned NYU’s 2015 Mini-Golf Champion.

Favorite Musical: Singin' in the Rain

Twitter: @evilemperorzrg

Jasmine is a recent graduate of New York University who has spent the last few years in undergrad writing silly scripts and papers about how bad capitalism is. Aside from being a reality TV addict (a well-documented PumpHead), she loves a good musical, which is why she is so excited to be working on Childish !

Favorite Podcast: Las Culturistas; she also loves Bad Bunny

Twitter: @Homesucks

Lucas Elijah Friedman - Composer

Lucas Elijah Friedman is an actor, composer, and writer. He graduated from Tisch Drama's Playwrights Horizons Theater School in December 2018. Born in NYC, raised in Portland, Oregon, Lucas has been described as "simultaneously 80 and 10 years old," "several meerkats standing on each others' shoulders," and "wait, is that Daniel Radcliffe??!?" Writing a musical has been a lifelong dream for Lucas, and he couldn't have picked a better bunch of collaborators.

Favorite Musical: Merrily We Roll Along

Elyse Morales is a TV and film writer living in LA and trying her best. She is the producer of another Whale Bus show, Story Blocks. In her free time she rereads Lord of the Rings and hangs out with her roommate's cat.

Favorite Rap Song: "Dreams and Nightmares" by Meek MilL

Twitter: @elysemmorales

Kamau Wainaina - Rap Producer & Lyricist / Director (ep. 5)

Kamau Wainaina is a Kenyan artist and cereal connoisseur based in New York City. Specializing in the audiovisual, Kamau is intent on creating a world through a variety of different media that all can experience.  

Favorite Rap Album: Not Drowning but Waving by Loyle Carner

Favorite Podcast: Displaced by Vox Media

Favorite Musical: Les Miserables

Twitter: @kamauwhynaina

Insta: @Kamauwithsunflowers