Mark "Evan" Hansen

Evan Hansen is a senior in high school. He is socially awkward and suffers from anxiety and depression. He is a natural storyteller and once won a contest for a short story he wrote. He is in therapy and must write a letter to himself once a day. He tries to put up a cheerful and happy exterior, but inside he is suffering from despair He is self-deprecating and funny, but the humor masks a deeper pain that comes out in his language.

Evan lives with his mother, who works at a hospital and spends all her extra time working on her degree. His father left when he was young and moved to Colorado where he remarried and dedicated himself to his stepdaughters and new wife. Evan suffers from severe abandonment issues, and wants desperately to connect with his father.

He works as an apprentice ranger...