Atelier Course Develops Musical Comedy Inspired by TV Holiday Specials

The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special, a new musical-in-progress, received its debut during an end of semester showing of a spring Princeton Atelier course led by Michael R. Jackson and Rachel J. Peters in the Godfrey Kerr Theater Studio.

Photo Highlights

An audience watches a group of actors performing at music stands.

Derrick Cobey, John Jeffords, Liz Lark Brown, Amelia Watkins, and music director Sean Patrick Cameron perform in the end of the semester showing of The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special, a Princeton Atelier course co-led by Michael R. Jackson Rachel J. Peters. Photo by Jon Sweeney

Two people present to a crowd on a stage crowded with props.

Michael R. Jackson and Rachel J. Peters introduce The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special, the spring Princeton Atelier course they co-led. Photo by Jon Sweeney

A person reads a piece of paper to a crowd.

Michael R. Jackson introduces the end of semester showing of The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special. Photo by Jon Sweeney

Rachel J. Peters introduces The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special in the Kerr Theater Studio. Photo by Jon Sweeney

An actor gestures wildly with their hands raised above their heads as another leans in with a big smail.

Liz Lark Brown and Amelia Watkins perform in The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special. Photo by Jon Sweeney

Four actors perform at music stands in a classroom setting

Derrick Cobey, John Jeffords, Liz Lark Brown, and Amelia Watkins perform the end of semester showing of The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special,. Photo by Jon Sweeney

Two actors perform at music stands one holding his hands up like devil horns.

Derrick Cobey and John Jeffords in The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special. Photo by Jon Sweeney

Two actors perform a conversation at music stands.

Derrick Cobey and John Jeffords perform in The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special. Photo by Jon Sweeney

An actor gestures dramatically at a music stand.

Liz Lark Brown in The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special. Photo by Jon Sweeney

An actor performs holding a cat stuffed animal wearing a ill-fitted bald wig.

John Jeffords in The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special. Photo by Jon Sweeney

A group of people sit in chairs and applaud.

Students, faculty and staff watch The Year That Never Was: A Trash Day Special. in the Kerr Theater Studio. Photo by Jon Sweeney

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, composer, and lyricist Jackson (A Strange Loop) and award-winning composer/librettist Peters reunited to showcase a world where Trash Day supplants Christmas as Ur-Holiday, following the presentational format of 1970s/1980s TV variety holiday specials.

Dreamed up and written by students in the spring semester course along with the faculty, the performance on April 21, 2025, also encompassed three additional invented American holidays: Lazy Day, Emo Day, and Respect Your Cat Day. When everything and everyone is disposable/replaceable, co-hosts Chevy, Legs, Moonbeam, and Patrick figure out what and how to celebrate. This concert reading featured professional performers Liz Lark Brown, Derrick Cobey, John Alejandro Jeffords, and Amelia Watkins. Julie Kramer directed; Sean Patrick Cameron was musical director.

The team ultimately seeks to develop the work further into a long-running variety show with a rotating repertoire of invented holidays.

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