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[0:00] Anna Eltide: The Ensemblist is brought to you in part by our Patreon members, including Kat Hicks, Cheryl Hodges-Selden, Christian Ranke, Christopher Gurr, Colin Elijah, Emily Chen, and Joey Soji.

[0:14] Anna Eltide: You can join them in supporting The Ensemblist for as little as $5 a month. Find out how at patreon.com slash theensemblist.

[0:22] Anna Eltide: Wait, who is my boss? Now Regina is gone. I'll wear what I want, which is what I have on.

[0:39] Anna Eltide: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. Welcome, I'm Anna Eltide.

[0:47] Anna Eltide: To be free, free.

[0:54] Anna Eltide: Over the years, The Ensemblist has had the privilege of sharing personal stories from hundreds of theater actors on our blog. In this edition, we spoke with Myles McHale of Mean Girls, who recalled a seemingly innocuous wrist injury a year prior that would take him out of the production for six whole months. In the days and weeks leading up to Myles' return to rehearsals, Broadway shut down in the second week of March, sidelining not only Myles' return to the stage, but even his in-person physical therapy. In his own words, here is Myles' inspiring take on staying optimistic and galvanized through this unprecedented time.

[1:42] Myles McHale: It was a year ago that I took a leap and sealed my fate. It was a typical two-show Saturday at Mean Girls, performing in the ensemble as a member of the show in which I made my Broadway debut as an original company member. During the matinee, I jumped off a table during Fearless, something I had done at least 500 times before. But this time, the landing was a little different. The next thing I knew, I was on my butt looking up at Erica Hennigsen, playing the lead role of Katie Heron, singing, You can live fearlessly, too. I scrambled and got back up to keep on dancing, nodding at fellow castmates who mouthed, Are you okay? I'd fallen and crashed dozens of times in our show, often trapped in our rolling desks or maybe swiped by an errant locker wall, and it had never been serious.

The ensemble in our show sings, dances, and moves the set. These things happen. I brushed it off. By the end of the show, my hand and wrist had swelled up something awful. But in between shows, our magical Broadway physical therapist, Megan Wise, worked her voodoo magic and it went all the way down. She suggested I put a brace on it, acquire it from a nearby Duane Reade, get it x-rayed the next day, and only do the second show if I felt well enough, which I did.

[3:16] Myles McHale: By the end of that night, my wrist was a dark purple and swollen even more than before. I went to my local city MD the next day, was x-rayed, and got the news. I had broken my scaphoid bone, which is the bone directly under your thumb and one that is the toughest to heal because it gets the least amount of blood and marrow. A day later, the hand specialist at NYU put me in a fiberglass cast and said he'd reevaluate me in six weeks and that scaphoid fractures can sometimes take almost a year to heal. I'd never broken a bone in my life, so I was shocked and frustrated when the first six weeks turned into a second and then a third until I bent off the stage for six months. I was finally cleared to start PT to regain strength and flexibility and possibly return to rehearsals just in time for Broadway to shut down the second week of March 2020. The city shuttered, our industry was in crisis, and my PT moved to Zoom where I used my tea kettle to do weight training for my wrist flexors.

[4:38] Myles McHale: It had been hard being out of the show. I miss being on stage with my friends, my show family, the audience. When they told me it was broken, I went home, called the management and my parents to let them know, ordered two breakfast sandwiches, and burst into tears on my couch. Well, maybe three breakfast sandwiches. Who's to say? Mean Girls had been the dominant force in my life for the last three years since 2017, so to not be there was devastating. But things weren't all bad. I could still go to the gym for cardio and use my left arm. I was able to visit my parents for the holidays. I finally read The Goldfinch. Most hearteningly, my show family jumped at the opportunity to sign my cast, and Gianna Iannelli wrote a big Connor on it so I could go audition to be in Dear Evan Hansen. I'm sorry this had to happen.

[5:47] Myles McHale: But while I politely endured a few months away from the show with my Netflix and an optimistic chill, I never expected anything like what's happening now. Watching my other castmates, as well as our entire industry, forced off the stage and into a political, social, and economic limbo was heartbreaking. We're looking at over a year without Broadway, which is an unprecedented loss for both the live arts and the people who helped create them. All we can do right now is try to survive and strive to help others if they're in need. And all I can do is try to keep in shape, both in my overall health and my wrist exercises, playing with putty to improve my grip, lifting grocery bags full of cans of soup in lieu of free weights.

It's a constant struggle. Even typing this, my thumb aches since it's raining out, and my wrist and thumb get achy when it rains, so now I'm an old man. Like the famous fish Nemo before me, I now have a lucky fin. But I still can't wait to go back to work and do that same jump off the table, the one I'd done so many times before, and to land on my feet. Keep your chins up and your fins lucky, and please, vote so Broadway can come back.

[7:15] Anna Eltide: Special thanks to Myles McHale for sharing his story with us today. The Ensemblist was produced today by Mo Brady and me, Anna Eltide. There are two great ways you can help The Ensemblist right now. One is by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. The other is by becoming a Patreon member, which you can do at patreon.com slash theensemblist. Please follow us wherever you listen to podcasts, whether that be on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at our home on Broadway Podcast Network at bpn.fm. You can also follow us on Instagram, where we share all of our latest episodes. Stay safe, and thanks for listening. Until next time.