“[title of show]” is a meta musical about four people trying to create a musical.

Adam Day Howard, who is directing the show at Youngstown State University’s Spotlight Theater, sees plenty of parallels playing out between the story on stage and what he’s seeing in rehearsals.

“It’s a musical about four dorks who come together and become very good friends, and that’s kind of exactly what my cast is,” Howard said. “They’re absolutely charming, wonderful people who understand their characters’ relationships very, very well because they came together as a group of friends who kind of knew each other, but now they really know each other, and they have really, really great chemistry. The best thing about this production is the chemistry of the cast.”

That’s not the only parallel. Howard stressed he means “dorks” affectionately, in part because 20 years ago, when Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell were creating “[title of show],” Howard could have been one of those dorks.

“It didn’t really hit me what this musical would stir up in me, memories wise,” he said. “It’s about a bunch of people in their 20s living in New York City, around 2005 who are shut out of the showbiz industry. That was me in 2005. I was a guy living in New York City, trying to write things, trying to find things to audition for, completely shut out and just kind of struggling to get by.

“This play just brought up a whole bunch of stuff for me about, you know, being in my 20s and being in New York, being just a few blocks away from ‘the show’ and having no access to it.”

It’s also made him feel old as his young cast marveled at ancient artifacts like a flip phone and needed a primer on the pop culture popularity of Ellen Degeneres in the early 2000s.

“[title of show]” follows two aspiring writers (played by Ben Podnar and Liam Burk) as they try to craft an original work with the help of their friends Susan and Heidi (played by Natalie Horvath and Lex McCaughty) in only three weeks in order to meet the deadline to enter the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Along the way, they have to resist the temptation of copying what’s currently working on Broadway and creating something unique and original. As the song “Nine People’s Favorite Thing” says, “I’d rather be nine people’s favorite thing than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing.”

Once again, Howard has lived that rollercoaster that the characters endure. He was part of a show called “From Up Here” that was picked up by producers Andy and Wendy Barnes, who went on to be part of the production team for the West End and Broadway hit “Six.”

“I know what it’s like to be like, ‘Wow, maybe we could get a name (star),” Howard said. “I know what it’s like to have everybody fighting about what the show should be. Not fighting but disagreeing. I know what it’s like to get your hopes up that it’s going to be a big deal, and then all of a sudden it isn’t, and then all of a sudden it is.

“‘[title of show]’ is all about that journey and that arc and the unpredictable nature of show business and how much comes down to the producers.”

The rest of the cast includes Sam Nabring (who also is assistant music director as well as on stage accompanist) and swings Maria Anastasiades, and Owen Mills.

Katherine Garlick is costume designer, Todd Dicken is scenic designer, Gunnar Carwile is technical director and Jonathan Zelezniak is lighting supervisor.

The student crew includes Olivia Vargas, Adriana Rosario, Stephanie Simon, Sam Law, Sarah Robles, Grace Beil and Abby Underwood.

The script is packed with inside jokes and references to other musicals, but Howard said there is a serious message as well.

“It is about the creation of new work,” Howard said. “And the creation of new work, when it comes to plays and especially musicals, is really dependent on things like theater festivals and new play festivals. If those things didn’t exist, everything would be created by corporations, and that would be it.

“If we don’t have funding for the arts, if we don’t have festivals, if we don’t take chances on new writers, then everything will be controlled by the people who already have the money, and we’ll just continue to get art that they want us to consume instead of something new.”

If you go …

WHAT: “[title of show]”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through April 13

WHERE: Spotlight Theater, Bliss Hall, Youngstown State University

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $16 for adults, $12 for senior citizens, YSU alumni, faculty and staff and non YSU students and free for YSU students and are available online at www.ysu.tix.com and by calling 330-941-3105.