A Window into the World of a Working Artist
Bess Welden’s playwriting students get a firsthand look at the creative process
Students in Bess Welden’s Beginning Playwriting course are witnessing in real time the collaborative nature of artistic creation and the painstaking process of revision as a play is readied for its world premiere.
When she is not teaching her class at Colby this semester, Welden, a lecturer in performance, theater, and dance, is working in Portland with the cast and director of her new play, Madeleines, about a Jewish family, an explosive family secret, and the dynamics of sisterhood. The play, which takes its name from the decadent butter cookie, premieres next week at Portland Stage Company.
For students, the chance to shadow their professor as her play wends its way through the rehearsal process toward its premiere has provided a window into the world of a working artist.
Elizabeth Echt ’28 has experience as an actor and director but had never interacted with a playwright until this course.
“It’s been really interesting listening to Bess talk about the process and learning how closely she works with the actors on the script,” said Echt, a psychology: neuroscience and music double major, who is considering adding a minor in performance, theater, and dance. “I always thought about a play or piece of writing as something that is very personal and singular. I never realized how collaborative it is, so I have enjoyed learning about the process.”
Echt plans to attend a technical rehearsal this weekend, and then she and her classmates are scheduled to attend a performance during opening weekend in a field trip made possible by the Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance.
Earlier this month, Elisa Kim ’26 attended a short reading of the play at the Greene Block + Studios, at which actors from the Two Cent Theatre Company presented a snippet of the show. Afterward, Welden discussed the play and her process.
What impressed Kim most was the power of a playwright to animate characters and turn something written on the page into something tangible on stage that can be shared and experienced by many at once.
“Going to the reading was a strikingly inspiring and eye-opening experience,” said Kim, who is majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing and preparing to enter Colby’s dual-degree program in engineering. “Watching the short reading really redefined my image of what a writer can actually be. I was transfixed. … Being able to witness Bess’s writing process is extremely valuable because it allows us to see the playwright in all their glory.”
Tracking changes in real time
Welden’s play centers on sisters Debra and Jennifer, who are coming to terms with the death of their mother, a professional baker. They discover a secret hidden among their mother’s recipes, leading to a family rift and forcing them to confront historical trauma passed down through generations.
Typically, Welden does not ask her students to read her own plays as part of their coursework. Given the timing of Madeleines, she made an exception with this semester’s class. Students will read and discuss the version of the play that Welden took into rehearsal in Portland, then track the changes in the script that occur throughout the rehearsal process so they can witness, in real time, the influence of actors, the director, and others.
Some changes are subtle, such as adjusting a line of dialogue to accommodate an actor’s preference. Other recent changes include the use of eggs during a portion of the play where the sisters are making cookies. For reasons of economy and conscience, Welden and the theater agreed they should adjust the script to eliminate cracking eggs on stage.
“It’s a good opportunity for students to see their professors working in the world as artists. I bring that experience directly into the classroom,” Welden said.
A decade in the making
Welden has been working on Madeleines off and on for a decade. It has had many iterations, taken on many different forms, and been honed through 10 different workshops, staged readings, and workshop-productions, including a developmental reading in the Runnals Building in fall 2021.
The cast includes three actors, who play four characters: Danielle Levin, Carine Montbertrand, and Carmen Roman. The director is Annette Jolles, a longtime friend and collaborator of the playwright.
They met when Welden was fresh out of graduate school after earning her M.F.A. at the National Theater Conservatory and had moved to New York. She and Jolles collaborated on Welden’s first solo work, and they have been friends since. Jolles has been attached to Madeleines for several years, including during a reading at Colby four years ago.
A version of the play won the 2022 National Jewish Playwriting Contest, which led to a production of the work-in-progress by the Jewish Theatre of Bloomington, Ind., in May 2023 and a 10-day residency at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, Calif., where Welden further refined the script.
‘It’s a good opportunity for students to see their professors working in the world as artists. I bring that experience directly into the classroom.’
Bess Welden, Playwright and Lecturer in Performance, Theater, and Dance
Welden is also a longtime collaborator with Portland Stage, which workshopped a version of Madeleines during its Little Festival of the Unexpected for new plays, and the theater has produced many of her other plays over the years.
Welden’s play Death Wings won the 2020 Maine State Prize of the Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights and was widely produced. Refuge Malja, which premiered at Portland Stage, also won the Tel Aviv Jewish Plays Contest and was a finalist in the 2020 National Jewish Playwriting Contest. Several other of her plays have been produced nationally.
‘A wild moment of high satisfaction’
Welden acknowledged feeling some anxiety as a Jewish playwright at this particular moment, when anti-Semitism is on the rise.
“It is an interesting time to identify as a Jewish artist, and I do that very openly and boldly,” she said. “But right now, making art that is overtly and unapologetically Jewish in its own way is political and a little extra vulnerable—and also important. This play is a celebration. These women, the characters, are resilient and they do get through. They figure out how to keep going, and we are left with hope.”
The sense of accomplishment that stems from a new play getting a production is something she cherishes—especially for such a personal play that has been in the works for so long.
“It’s been a long road, and now arriving at this moment with a well-resourced premiere at Portland Stage feels like a miracle,” she said, thanking the theater’s Artistic Director Anita Stewart for her faith in Welden as a playwright and her commitment to producing new work.
“You can write the best play in the world, but if it doesn’t meet the needs of a particular theater’s mission or season, your play is not going to get produced. In fact, the hard truth is that most plays never get produced. So every time I am granted the opportunity to take my work into production, it is a wild moment of high satisfaction. There’s no diminishing how special it is.”
