The empowerment of FYM

Tonight, creatives in the Class of 2027 open Post-Mortem, the first-year musical. It's the beginning of their arts-at-Harvard life and a time to reflect on the impact of this annual favorite on the part of two Froshical seniors. Post-mortem, indeed. 

By Ogechi Obi '26
OFA Staff Blogger

The ARTS FIRST Festival is underway, and so is another beloved arts tradition and ARTS FIRST offering: the first-year musical. Each year, an original show is entirely written, composed, directed and performed by first-year students. Lovingly dubbed The Froshical, the first-year musical is a student organization overseen by the Office for the Arts and advised by Dana Knox, manager for college theater. This year’s show Post Mortem follows the story of ancient texts that that save a Latin department from obsolescence. The show – with the Class of 2026 creative team of director Lollie McKenzie, musical director Alyssa Gaines, book writer Paul Palmer, lyricist Eleni Dadian and composer Christian Liu – will run April 27-30 at Agassiz Theatre as part of the festival. 

The first-year musical, however, is only the beginning of artmaking for many first-years. Many of Harvard’s theater productions trace their origins back to the bonds created during the first-year musical each year. For instance, the creative teams of three featured original musicals presented in excerpts during the Harvard Student Composers Festival earlier in April all met during their first-year musical involvement.  

Two seniors, Ian Chan and Kalos Chu, who recently collaborated on one of those musicals, Out: An Asian American Musical, began working together on Cruising Altitude, the 24th first-year musical. They have since gone on to work on a number of shows and both have plans to continue art-making after graduation. Chu will be moving to Los Angeles for screenwriting, while Chan will go to New York to work as a musical theater artist. 

Neither, however, came into Harvard with theatrical ambitions. “I came to study chemistry and physics,” Chan said, with Harvard being one of the few liberal arts colleges he applied to. “I didn’t do a lick of theater before I came to Harvard.”

“It never occurred to me that people our age could write a musical,” said Chu.

The two, who met working on the first-year musical, saw their lives entirely changed by the experience. For his part, Chan found new academic loves, and now, “spends more time in rehearsal than he did in the lab,” while Chu describes the first-year musical as the place where he met close collaborators and friends.

“You grow really closer to everyone. It’s much easier to make friends because everyone is a first-year.” He went on to say that the first-year musical, with its “open environment” and “low barrier for entry,” could be an experience that might “change your career at Harvard.”

Chan echoed similar sentiments, describing the first-year musical as “inspiring.” When asked if he would change anything about his journey through theater, and his first-year musical experience, Chan said “No, nothing.” Rather, he feels lucky to have lived the story he did–starting in the first-year arts program, discovering the first-year musical, meeting friends, working on productions, and now beginning a career. And looking back, to where the class of 2027 stands, he offers advice.

“Harvard is the place where you can try new things and you should feel empowered to try new things. You never know where it’s going to take you ... the arts community at Harvard is so vibrant,” Chan said. “It isn’t a conservatory; students can feel empowered to take on leadership roles with others and have the opportunity to build things from the ground up.” He finished simply: “Interdisciplinary work that you do in places like the first-year musical and FAP –that is what making art in the world is all about.”