Larson Legacy Concert: abs wilson (with livestream)
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Jonathan Larson Grant recipient abs wilson presents a reading of her new musical “Kelly Nowak”.
Tickets go on sale to ƽ PAC Members on Monday, July 27 and to the General Public on Monday, August 3. Visit our website for details on becoming a member.
Our Larson Legacy Concert Series continues with Jonathan Larson Grant recipient abs wilson. This showcase will be a concert reading of the new musical Kelly Nowak (story/book/lyrics by abs wilson, story/music by Adam LaPorte).
One summer day in 2005, a teenager goes missing from her small Michigan town and is never found. 18 years later, her family sits for interviews about what they think happened to her. Did Kelly drown in the nearby lake? Is she alive, trapped within a massive conspiracy? Or… is she somewhere a little more in between?Kelly Nowak is a 90-minute musical, framed as a true crime documentary, that explores the need to hold any kind of tangible truth— no matter the rationality or cost.
This event will also be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.
abs wilson is a playwright, songwriter, and educator. Most recently, she’s a 2025 Jonathan Larson grant winner, Richard Rodgers Award recipient (2024), recipient of the Lucille Lortel Theatre’s 121 Project grant (2025), selected writer for the Orchard Project Summer Series (2025) selected writer for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals (2024), selected writer for the Eugene O’Neill National Music Theater Conference (2024), and selected writer for the Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat (2024). She’s had work developed with numerous organizations, including the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Theatre Barn, Kayenta Theater, Paper Kraine, Fusion Theater, Vanguard Theater, and colleges across the US including Syracuse University, Millikin University, and St. Olaf College. Her and Veronica Mansour’s song “Runaway Girl” was a winner of Taylor Louderman’s Write Out Loud Songwriting Contest (2023), and her play I Crave the Heat is published in Some Scripts Literary Magazine. She holds an MFA from NYU Tisch’s Musical Theater Writing Program, and is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild, ASCAP, and Maestra. Current Works: Lighthouse, Swamp Song, Kelly Nowak, Animal Facts, and The Butterfly People.
Since 2015, the Larson Legacy Concert Series at the ƽ’s Performing Arts Center (PAC) has showcased talented artists to help nurture and support the next generation of musical theater creators to carry on the legacy of Jonathan Larson (creator of the iconic musical RENT), who graduated from Adelph in 1982. Past participants in the series have included Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop, White Girl In Danger, Teeth), Tony nominee Max Vernon (K-Pop, The View Upstairs), Zoe Sarnak (The Lonely Few), Tony Nominee Benjamin Velez (Real Women Have Curves) and over a dozen more talented creators.