Jenny Giering (Cycle 6) and collaborators Adam Gwon & Karen Hartman
Cycle 6 GMTWP alum Jenny Giering, alongside collaborators Adam Gwon and Karen Hartman, was the recipient of the 13th annual Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award for her show ALICE BLISS.
The only award of its kind in the country, the Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award brings the creators of a promising new project together with a small ensemble of actors to rehearse, perform, and record selections from the winning score in Weston, in New York, and in the studio with Grammy winner Kurt Deutsch of Ghostlight Records.
Nominated by Kathy Evans of Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, ALICE BLISS is based on Laura Harrington’s acclaimed novel. It follows Alice, a young teenager whose father is deployed to Iraq, as she navigates the challenges of growing up in a family touched by the effects of war. This musical tells the story of the family left behind and the cost of war to those who are not on the front lines.
“With ALICE BLISS,” says Executive Artistic Director Susanna Gellert, “Giering, Gwon, and Hartman have created a beautiful study of the American family. Not only is ALICE BLISS a stunning and heart wrenching new musical, it is also a detailed and compassionate exploration of an oft overlooked story of contemporary life. We are thrilled to welcome Giering and Gwon back to Weston and to provide this opportunity to an exciting new writing team.”
Jenny Giering has received the Clifton Artist in Residence at Harvard University, the Dramatists’ Guild Jonathan Larson Fellowship, Constance Klinsky Prize from Second Stage Theatre, a Meet the Composer grant, and the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. She is the composer of CROSSING BROOKLYN, ALICE UNWRAPPED, THE MISTRESS CYCLE and SAINT-EX which received its world premiere at Weston in 2011.