How Mackenzie Thomas’s Tweets Made a Sold-Out Theater Cry

FRIDAY 5:00 PM APRIL 3, 2026 HELL’S KITCHEN

I’m in Hell’s Kitchen at 5 pm on a Friday, and it’s surprisingly desolate. I’m walking into the ART NY theater to see Mackenzie Thomas perform for four hours. I can’t remember the last time I watched anything for four hours, and I’m intimidated at the prospect. I know Mackenzie Thomas the way most people on Instagram do: she’s the 5-foot-something girl running around Bushwick with a selfie stick and baby bangs, filming herself dancing on Photo Booth. You might also know her as the girl who went viral for reading entries from her childhood diary on TikTok. I am briefed, via the internet, that I Said What I Said recaps Thomas’s 2025 through tweets and diary entries, and I’m quietly skeptical about the viability of this “performance art.” But there must be something to it because this is the 8th run of the show, it’s gone global, and it’s totally sold out every time. 

It’s nearly 10 pm when we finally file out. The sun set hours ago, and there’s an unspoken agreement among everyone leaving that we’ve never seen a piece of theater quite like this before. A yellow MacBook projecting a year of this woman’s digital footprint somehow made a room full of strangers cry laughing, and then just cry. I meet Thomas outside the venue for a cig. She’s swapped the ’60s-esque, red, A-line mini from the show for a black mini skirt and her own merch. She’s just as cute in person. We light up.

———

LUCIA BROWN: Do you have a cig? 

MACKENZIE THOMAS: Yeah, of course.

BROWN: How was it? How do you feel post-show?

THOMAS: I always feel crazy. I mean, I seek it out. But I think living your life at a vulnerable extreme is just…you can’t not feel crazy after bearing your all for four hours. But I feel good, and I hope that I’m able to move on from the stuff I talk about in the show soon.

BROWN: I was going to ask, does it feel sort of therapeutic? Or does it feel like you’re rehashing old trauma?

THOMAS: Fifty-fifty. I think there’s a harm in sitting in pain, but also artists suffer for their art and this is the gift I’m comfortable giving. It feels like what I’m supposed to do and I’m really happy that I get to do it.

BROWN: And you’ve performed this piece—

THOMAS: Eight times.

BROWN: Yeah, eight times. Wow.

THOMAS: This is the eighth time. 

BROWN: Are you tapping out after this?

THOMAS: I’m tapping out unless someone gives me money.

BROWN: [laughs] Does it feel different now versus the first time you did it?

THOMAS: Yeah, the first time I did it was so crazy. I didn’t know if it was going to work. I didn’t run through the tweet part of the show, and I just kind of let it happen. But now I know the show, I know the beats, and that feels really good. I feel really good. 

BROWN: Are the audience reactions relatively the same or different every time?

THOMAS: They’re different every time. People laughed a lot in this show, and usually there’s less laughter. I can feel people getting really serious. I love it when I can feel people getting really serious. I had new friends, old friends, internet friends in the audience, and that’s, like, how do I not feel at home during all of that?

BROWN: There was such a mix of people in the audience. There were two old men in front of me and a twenty-year-old girl beside me. I was like, “What is this crowd? I love it.” 

THOMAS: I don’t know. It’s so good. 

BROWN: What does prep look like the day of? What did you do today? 

THOMAS: I wake up, I wash my hair really good. I started tech at 11:30 am, and my friends are all working for free. Two of my best guy friends were ushers tonight. My friend Sarah worked the board, and I just got to hang out with them all day. So it’s like nothing’s better than that. It’s so fun. And we ate Chick-fil-A, and it was kind of heaven.

BROWN: That’s awesome. And then what are you going to do after this? How do you decompress after a show like that? 

THOMAS: I usually stay up pretty late. I drink a Red Bull on stage.

BROWN: That’s what was in the wine glass.

THOMAS: Yeah, so I just kind of sit, and I’m like, “damn.” Every thought that I have is just, “damn.” But I hope that I am able to feel kind of different. I hope that I’m able to feel like I’ve moved on past this year.

BROWN: And are you still documenting? Is there going to be a part two, a 2026?

THOMAS: No.

BROWN: No? Never again?

THOMAS: No.

BROWN: Too much?

THOMAS: I don’t want to do a gimmick. I’m already writing stuff now that I’m interested in doing new stuff with. I am sure I’ll do this show again, but I think I just need a little break. I’ve been doing it every two weeks basically since the year started. The first show was on January 2nd.

BROWN: You put it all together that quickly?

THOMAS: Yeah.

BROWN: That’s wild. I kept thinking, “How is her computer not crashing right now?” The amount of tweets and clips you go through is crazy.

THOMAS: I started writing the show in the middle of January, and I finished it on my 27th birthday on December 21st. And then I finished the script, and finished writing the tweets on New Year’s.

BROWN: So you sort of envisioned it during the year or…?

THOMAS: No, I didn’t know this was going to happen. I mean, this all stemmed from a breakup, a brief relationship that I had, and I was so upset and confused that I had no choice but to bring it all out to the dance floor and bare my all.

BROWN: I loved watching you dance. Were you a dancer growing up?

THOMAS: No.

BROWN: Oh, really?

THOMAS: But my mom is a wedding singer and just like—

SPEAKER 3: Congratulations. That was great.

THOMAS: Thank you. I’ll let you play with my computer soon. 

SPEAKER 3: I’ll come over. Let’s hang out soon. 

THOMAS:  Yeah, okay. I love you.

BROWN: But yeah, I clocked the Dance Mom’s reference as well, and I was like…surely.

THOMAS: No dance experience, just comes through. I just like to move. I don’t know. I always thought that there was humor in the way that I danced but I guess, in the past couple of years, It’s just something that I do and I just like it. 

BROWN: You do it well.

THOMAS: Yeah. I like to dance. 

BROWN: Where’s the best place to dance in New York?

THOMAS: The best place to dance in New York is in your bedroom. It’s in my bedroom.

BROWN: Period. With a cute outfit on.

THOMAS: Sometimes, but usually I think I do my best dancing when I’m in my sweats.

BROWN: Are the baby bangs here to stay?

THOMAS: Absolutely forever. I think I’ll have them forever.

BROWN: Period.

THOMAS: Yeah, unless something happens to me. Unless I am in a fire and my hair gets burnt off.

[Another friend pops in.]

SPEAKER 4: Great job. I saw your show.

THOMAS: Thank you. Oh my god. Wait, did you like it? Did the girls like it? Did they come?

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, they’re right there. They liked it. They liked it a lot. I’m still processing, but—

THOMAS: Yeah, I’m still processing.

SPEAKER 4: It seems like it’s a lot for you, for everyone. How do you feel?

THOMAS: Crazy. Always.

SPEAKER 4: That’s not a bad thing necessarily.

THOMAS: No. I always feel crazy. Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER 4: Of course. Congrats.

BROWN: You have such a cute community. 

THOMAS: I love my friends. 

BROWN: What does your For You Page look like right now? You had a bit of a TikTok hiatus…

THOMAS: Yeah, I did. My For You Page… I am really interested in people who are documenting their life, and it ranges from mommy vloggers to schizophrenics. Those are my people.

BROWN: That’s a nice mix. 

THOMAS: It is.

BROWN: [laughs] Awesome. Well, I love that. Thank you for chatting with me. 

THOMAS: Oh my God. Thank you for coming.