FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - Ke'Lea Flowers says her new musical “Dysfunction,” opening in April at the Selma Arts Center, has been more than 10 years in the making — a love letter to her younger self, her loved ones, and a testament to everyone who doubted she could do it. While not strict ly autobiographical, Flowers describes it as "painted with the color wheel of my life experiences." "I grew up in a dysfunctional home. It's not something that I'm ashamed of talking about," Flowers said. Flowers says her love for musicals began early, and by the age of six, she was already writing songs. "I've been obsessed with musical theater my whole life, but I really got into it when I was in high school," Flowers said. "There was actually a really mean girl in high school who was like, 'You can't do that.'" Flowers says the early negativity in her life affected her for years, creating harmful thought patterns in her childhood that her adult self would have to learn to fix. "I would tell myself, 'You're lazy, you're not strong enough, people are going to find out,'" Flowers said. "Lately, I challenge it by going, 'Who said that to you?'" Flowers says that after spending time confronting her internal monologue, she can now pinpoint the people who first put her down - and can now stand up for herself better than ever before. "I can literally go, 'That is what my stepdad said to me, because he was not a good person, and he broke my spirit,'" Flowers said. "I'm in control now, and that's not true. So we're not going to say these mean things to ourselves." She says "Dysfunction" invites audiences to see themselves on stage and realize they’re not alone or "dysfunctional." "I made this alone in my closet - all the demos of the songs. In a way, it's like I'm writing how alone I've felt my whole life, and then all these people are like, 'Me too,'" Flowers said. "There's no possible way I'm alone, and that is what I hope people feel when they see the show." Flowers says she feels anyone with an open mind has the potential to see themselves, or someone they love, represented on stage - and there's something undeniably big about that. "I think there's a safety that I feel sometimes in not dreaming big," Flowers said. "But, I said, 'I'm going to make this musical, I'm going to pitch this for Selma, and it's going to get in the Selma Arts Center,' and it did. So, it's going to be on Broadway. I'm saying it." You can purchase tickets to watch "Dysfunction," at the Selma Arts Center here. ...read more read less