The first people to commit stock market fraud over the internet weren’t criminals.
They were teenagers.

Inspired by real-life events, Hello Out There follows three unlikely friends in the summer of 1995 as they stumble into the brand-new world of online investing.

Armed with dial-up modems, raw intelligence, and a dangerous amount of confidence, they begin buying and selling stocks through the newly created World Wide Web, convinced they’ve discovered a shortcut into the adult world.

What starts as a game quickly spirals into something far more serious. As the money grows, so do the risks, the secrets, and the cracks in their friendship. Eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars later, the S.E.C. shows up and childhood comes to an abrupt end.

A funny, sharp, and unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story, Hello Out There asks a deceptively simple question: If Wall Street hotshots can act like greedy children, why can’t children act like Wall Street hotshots?

The answer proves far more complicated than any of them expect.

Set in an era when signing online meant a dial tone, a phone ring, and a long static hiss, this is a musical comedy about friendship, ambition, and moral awakening. It explores the thrill of discovery, the seduction of power, and the moment when kids playing at being grown-ups are forced to reckon with the real cost of their choices.

The show has been developed at Goodspeed Musicals, Playwrights Horizons, Adirondack Theatre Festival, and The Village Theatre.