TM
Tekla Monson
  • Theater
  • Class of 2018
  • Fairbanks, AK

Tekla Monson Scores Creative Residency at Goodspeed Musicals

2018 Feb 12

Tekla Monson '18 was one of two students to represent Wesleyan in the university's inaugural program with the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, Connecticut, last month. She joined 36 established and emerging composers and lyricists to participate in the two-week creative residency-the only one of its kind solely dedicated to the creation of new musicals. Kathleen Conlin, Theater Department chair, and Ellen Nerenberg, dean of the arts and humanities, initiated Wesleyan's involvement with the program.

"As a two-week creative residency, this project is very different from internships, apprenticeships and workshops our students may have been engaged in over the years," said Conlin. "This kind of work is vitally important for students in deepening their skill level but also in experiencing firsthand the realities of the creative process as evidenced by successful professionals."

Preparation for the pilot program began last semester, when student teams from visiting artist Greg Kotis's theater workshop class were encouraged to submit proposals for consideration for the residency program. Kotis, Nerenberg and Conlin reviewed and evaluated the proposals, and Monson's project was among two chosen for submission to the Goodspeed Musicals staff and the Johnny Mercer Foundation for approval.

Once the proposal was approved, the real work began.

"As liberal arts students who have spent our college careers studying a wide array of subjects, we weren't even aware of the musical theater writing techniques and training we had never been exposed to," said Monson, a theater major and religion minor. "Consequently, when we initially arrived at Goodspeed and were thrown into working relationships with professionals and seasoned writers, we felt a bit over our heads. But that's part of the fun of it, right? We soon became comfortable discussing our ideas and challenges with the other colonists as peers. We loved hearing stories about our fellow colonists' career paths and their day-to-day writing processes."

Read more here.