Playing the role of Zoe Murphy has been Audrey Robertson’s dream for many years.
“I got called back for two characters for the Broadway tour,” said Robertson.
One of them was Zoe.
That was 2020. “The week COVID hit,” she said.
But as kismet would have it, Robertson is getting the chance to step into her dream role in the Augusta premiere of the play, which opens at Le Chat Noir Friday.
“I never got to go to that callback, and I always looked for an opportunity to play the role,” she said.
Being in the Augusta premiere makes the opportunity even more special.
“The winner of 6 Tony Awards®, the Grammy® Award and the Olivier Award for Best Musical, ‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’ is the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it,” proclaims the “Dear Evan Hansen” website.
In the play, Evan Hansen is a lonely teen dealing with anxiety. His therapist encourages him to write letters to himself about the good things that will happen. In one, he mentions Zoe Murphy, who Evan has a crush on. Zoe’s brother, Connor, who is also a bully, takes the letter.
When Connor dies by suicide, his mother finds the letter and assumes that Evan was Connor’s friend.
Grief is a central theme in the show, and each of the characters deal with grief in their own ways.
“It explores a lot of complicated things about grief,” said Robertson, who is the only non-teenager playing a high school student.
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Although it’s a role she’s wanted to play for a long time, a question from one of the teen cast members made her look at Zoe in a way she never had. Zoe mentions her father didn’t cry at the funeral, but did Zoe cry at the funeral or was she just judging her father?
“I viewed Zoe from the outside – almost like a spectator,” she said. “I don’t know if she cried.”
The play can be heavy at times, but Robertson said there’s a balance of emotions with comedic moments interspersed.
“Dear Evan Hansen” will be staged at 8 p.m. May 15-16 and 21-23 at Le Chat Noir, 304 Eighth St. For ticket information, go here.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
