Abs Wilson Will Premiere Concert Reading of KELLY NOWAK at Adelphi PAC
Alex Olesky directs a cast featuring Gabi Carrubba, George Merrick, Yazmin De Jesus, and Veronica Mansour.
Adelphi University's Performing Arts Center (Adelphi PAC) will open its Fall 2026 season with a concert reading of Kelly Nowak, a new musical by 2025 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient Abs Wilson and composer Adam LaPorte. The performance will take place on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at 3 p.m. in Adelphi's Olmsted Theatre.
The show is part of Adelphi's The Larson Legacy Concert Series, created in 2015, which celebrates bold, emerging voices in musical theater while honoring the extraordinary creative legacy of Adelphi alumnus Jonathan Larson.
Framed as a true-crime documentary, Kelly Nowak explores the human need to grasp tangible truths, regardless of cost or rationality. One summer day in 2005, a teenager goes missing from her small Michigan town and is never found. Eighteen years later, her family sits for interviews about what they think happened to her. Did Kelly drown in the nearby lake? Is she alive, trapped within a massive conspiracy? Or. . . is she somewhere a little more in between?
Featuring a story, book, and lyrics by abs wilson, alongside music and story co-written with Adam LaPorte, this 90-minute musical offers a gripping and poignant psychological narrative. Cast members include: Gabi Carrubba, George Merrick, Yazmin De Jesus, Veronica Mansour, Adam LaPorte with musical direction from Anessa Marie Scolpini and directed by Alex Olesky.
Since 2015, the Larson Legacy Concert Series at Adelphi PAC has celebrated the work of exceptional musical theater creators, helping nurture the next generation of artists inspired by Jonathan Larson ('82), the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning creator of RENT. Past series features include Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop), Tony Award nominee Max Vernon (K-Pop), Zoe Sarnak (Galileo, The Lonely Few), and Tony Award nominee Benjamin Velez (Real Women Have Curves).
About Abs Wilson
Abs Wilson is an award-winning playwright, songwriter, and educator based in New York. In addition to receiving the 2025 Jonathan Larson Grant, her recent honors include the 2024 Richard Rodgers Award, the 2025 Lucille Lortel Theatre 121 Project Grant, and selections for the Orchard Project Summer Series, the NAMT Festival of New Musicals, the Eugene O'Neill National Music Theater Conference, and the Rhinebeck Writers' Retreat. Her work has been developed with leading theater companies and universities across the country. Wilson holds an MFA from NYU Tisch's Musical Theatre Writing Program and is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and Maestra.
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