Goodspeed Musicals hosts 41 writers for the Annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Grove

Jonathan Brielle

Goodspeed Musicals announced the participants for the 14th annual Johnny Mercer Foundation (JMF) Writers Grove, which will run Jan. 26 through Feb. 22 on the Goodspeed campus in East Haddam. The exclusive program will bring together 41 composers, lyricists, and librettists to develop 19 new musicals.

Established in 2013, the JMF Writers Grove provides a dedicated residency for musical theater writers to focus on new work or advance projects in progress. Participants are housed individually in Goodspeed’s Artists Village, where they receive support from the company’s dramaturgy and music departments. Evenings feature informal gatherings, allowing writers to share and discuss their work in a collaborative, salon-style environment.

“This Grove is a haven of creativity,” said Donna Lynn Hilton, Goodspeed Musicals’ artistic director. “We are tremendously grateful to the Johnny Mercer Foundation and our supporters who make this month of inspiring work possible.”

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Jonathan Brielle, executive vice president of the JMF and writer-producer in residence, added, “Now more than ever, musical storytellers are essential to imagining a brighter future. The Grove is one of the rare places where our work is allowed to grow with trust and care.”

Among this year’s participants are Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary, the British duo behind the stage adaptation of The Great British Bake Off; James Cooper, co-creator of the Webby-winning comedy podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno; Jacinth Greywoode and AriDy Nox, 2025 Richard Rodgers Award winners for Black Girl in Paris; and Katie Lynn Sharbaugh, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter.

The program’s resident staff includes Blair Russell as producer, Rose Oser as resident dramaturge, and Clifford Lee Johnson III as dramaturge. Goodspeed’s Hilton and associate artistic director Michael Fling provide additional guidance.

The JMF Writers Grove has helped develop numerous projects that went on to full productions, including The Snow Goose by Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie, Little Miss Perfect by Joriah Kwame, and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson.

For four weeks, the writers will work intensively on their musicals, aiming to refine storytelling, music, and lyrics in a program recognized as one of the premier incubators for musical theater talent in the nation.

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Goodspeed Musicals hosts 41 writers for the Annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Grove