Artistic Control and Partnership: Jewish Studies Programs and the Incubation of New Musical Works

Abstract

On May 14, 2018, I took my seat in the Robert Moss Theater, a small, well equipped performance space in Greenwich Village across from the New York Public Theater, to watch a performance of Or Matias’s new musical The Wave. Sitting among actors, creatives, and friends and family of the cast, I witnessed a dozen Indiana University musical theater students present the latest version of the powerful work, directed by Chloe Treat. To the undergraduate cast and musicians, the performance culminated a dream workshop year. They developed the work with the artists in two three-week stints at Indiana University before being flown into the epicenter of the musical theater world to help the artists transition the work to the next level. Their New York experience was rigorous, involving three days of twelve-hour rehearsals and the regular incorporation of new changes (including a new opening). In the end, however, their dedicated and nuanced performances showed a year’s growth with their characters, as they dramatized with naturalness and depth the story of a Palo Alto teacher’s social experiment with his class. I had seen and been moved by the show in the six previous performances at Indiana University, but watching the students enact their roles on a professional stage offered a poignant example of how successful artistic collaborations can mutually elevate a work, its creators, and its participants.