Hamilton has recently begun a series of Wednesday matinees for New York City school students, who, in addition to watching the Broadway show for $10, also get the opportunity to write and perform their own rhymes onstage for creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and the rest of the cast. At the first one in mid-April, Daveed Diggs, who plays Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette, was “sick as a dog,†and so he originally planned to go home after watching the kids. “It was our first student matinee, where at 10 in the morning, all of these kids from local high schools came and performed new stories sort of using our style of storytelling, on our stage,†Diggs, who won Favorite Male Breakthrough Performance at the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards on Tuesday, told Vulture. “I was sick as a dog and showed up there at 10 in the morning anyway, because I would not miss it for the world.â€
He was so inspired by their performances that he stayed and did two shows that day anyway. “I was going to take the day off, but after watching them, and overcoming all of their … these are teenagers sitting on a Broadway stage in front of 1,300 other teenagers. I cannot imagine a more terrifying thing,†Diggs said. “So I for sure was going to do the matinee for them, and I was so sick I was coming off stage and vomiting between songs, but I was not going to miss it. That was one of those moments where you realize sort of the potential for what this show can do that’s beyond the realm of theater.â€