Princeton Atelier students collaborate with composer Stew and Princeton Professor Paul Muldoon to stage a platform performance of a new rock musical, Athens, Georgia.
Tony Award-winning composer Stew and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon invited Princeton students to join them in development of a new rock musical in the spring 2022 Atelier course “Athens, Georgia,” based on the ancient Greek play The Frogs by Aristophanes. Throughout the semester, the students used their multitude of talents to provide dramaturgical input, work with Muldoon and Stew to refine lyrics and music, and to present a first staged reading of the show before a live audience.
“The opportunity to develop this musical with the help of our superbly talented students was a blessing,” said professor Muldoon, director of the Princeton Atelier, who wrote the book and lyrics for Athens.
“The Atelier is how people should learn how to make theater, or, as far as I’m concerned, how to make anything — learning by doing,” said Stew, who wrote the music.
“The Atelier is how people should learn how to make theater, or, as far as I’m concerned, how to make anything — learning by doing.”
— Stew
The course culminated in a platform performance featuring the students as well as guest appearances by Tyquan Malik White as Little Richard and Roman Banks as Chuck Berry, which offered Muldoon and Stew a first look at Athens, Georgia. This course and its performance were the first steps for Muldoon and Stew as they continue to refine the rock musical in hopes of a production in a New York theater in the future.
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