Gordon Leary

Good times at Goodspeed

I’m feeling very lucky to be spending the week at Goodspeed in the Johnny Mercer Writing Colony working on REB + VoDKa + ME with Julia! It’s a cold and snowy week in East Haddam, CT – just the kind you want to spend bundled up and writing.

We’re halfway through the week and we’ve been productive so far – writing and researching and planning and scheming… There are six other wonderful writers/teams up here with us this week, and we’ve had the pleasure of hearing their work at our nightly sharing sessions. During the day, I’ve taken breaks by raiding the amazing Goodspeed library for rare cast recordings and demos. And the whole time I’ve been nostalgic for my old NYU classmates, remembering the week we spent here almost exactly nine years ago!

Thanks to Colony dramaturg Michael Bush, Mercer Foundation VP Jonathan Brielle, and Colony coordinators Hunter Bird and Max Schwager.

All in all, it’s been a fruitful week in a beautiful place – what could be better?

The famous East Haddam Swing Bridge, the longest truss bridge in the world, over the Connecticut River.

Read all about it!

Want to learn a little bit about the project that Julia and I are working on in this year’s R&D group? I wrote a blog post sharing some of our early research. We’ve got a lot more to uncover and a lot of interviews to conduct, but we’re thrilled with where we’re starting!

Read what I wrote on the Extended Play blog.

Playthings Gala

I’m very excited to have two songs – Twin Bed and Matty Doesn’t Say Much” – in next week’s gala concert benefiting Playthings Theatre at the York Theatre. I’m especially excited to be in the company of so many friends!

Thanks to Jason Brubaker for including my work! Grab a ticket while they last…

Let Me Ascertain You: War on Christmas

Come on down (or up or over) to Joe’s Pub on Tuesday, December 8 to hear a new song by Julia and me in Let Me Ascertain You: War on Christmas, the next installment of the Civilians’ cabaret series. (It’s about something near and dear to my heart – inconspicuously humming along to songs when things get a little too Jesus-y.) Directed by Ben Kamine and Suzanne Agins, we’re featured alongside friends and fellow writers Ty Defoe & Tidtaya Sinutoke, Erato Kremmyda, Grace McLean, and Michael Friedman. What better way to kick off your secular holiday season?

Get your tickets here!

2016 Mercer Writers Colony

Julia and I were selected to participate in the 2016 Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals in February! We’ll spend a week in (hopefully) snowy East Haddam, CT working on REB + VoDKa + ME among a group of wonderful peers and friends. It’ll be my first time back at Goodspeed since 2007, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to get away (and raid the library there for rare cast recordings…)

The Writers Colony lasts for four weeks, so we’re not sure yet who we’ll be in residence with, but we’re excited by the prospect of getting to spend time with friends and colleagues like Ty Defoe & Tidtaya Sinutoke, Tim Drucker, Brett Ryback, Mark Sonnenblick, Erica Schmidt… So many wonderful people.

Stay tuned for updates from Goodspeed in February!