Last year I was tasked with selecting the inaugural class for @berkleenyc’s Writing and Design for Musical Theater program. I was looking for innovators. Creators who were ready to challenge the status quo. Versatile storytellers open to new experiences and ready to blaze new paths. Last week, these 20 “scholartists” (as Program Director Julianne Wick Davis called them), walked across the stage at Jazz at Lincoln Center as Masters, having heeded the call, and surpassing any expectation I had about what was possible for them to achieve in one short year. They grew exponentially as artists, largely because they collaborated and bonded in ways no one could have predicted. I cried my eyes out as I reminisced about the artists with such great potential I spoke to over zoom last year, and how they became the artists who stepped into that potential with grace, class, and fearlessness to become even more badass today. WDMT inaugural class of 2022, I am beyond proud of your accomplishments, but even more so of the people with such great compassion and integrity that you are. THAT is what we need in this world, and I am thrilled you will be leading us to bold new horizons. Congratulations, my loves! Get out there and show them what you’ve got! 💗🎶🥹