Peggy Koenig understands the importance of stories.  “Storytelling is a formidable way to create change,” explains Koenig, the Chair of Abry Partners, LLC, a top-ranked North American private equity firm. It was a desire to bring about change that brought the Wharton MBA to the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) as a Fellow in 2018 and resulted in her becoming the Founder and Producing Director of Black Cap Productions, now developing a musical chronicling the lives of undocumented Americans.

 Following a lifelong dream to continue her education, Koenig came to ALI with “a desire to be involved in other ventures that would have impact.” Arriving without a specific agenda, she was open to new ideas. “I found myself drawn to content that focused on inequality and narrowing the racial achievement gap,” she recalled.

During one Harvard lecture, sociologist Roberto Gonzales spoke about his 2016 book, “Lives in Limbo,” a detailed ethnographic study following the lives of 150 undocumented young people in Los Angeles over 12 years. “He imparted to us what was going on with undocumented Americans by telling stories,” said Koenig, and a lightbulb went on. “My grandfather came through Ellis Island,” she said. “The immigrant experience was always in the back of my mind.” Listening to Gonzales, she said, “I had this idea that maybe there was a way to take his content and dramatize it.”

 Transforming the book into a musical seemed natural to Koenig. While she has been involved in motion picture financing, tv and radio broadcasting, and magazine publishing, she believes in the impact of musicals. “A piece of theater set to music has a ‘long tail,’” she explained. “With a great score of music and lyrics, it will transport the audience and stick with them longer than a straight play, because music taps into something in the human condition that is unique and different and lives on.” Plus, she points out, a musical can be produced by regional theaters and schools, as well as abroad.

Producing, she realized, was a natural role. “An important part of being a producer is the ability to raise capital and to be involved in marketing and communications. I have those skills, plus I've managed and inspired a team.” To gain expertise, she took a 14-week producer’s course at the Commercial Theater Institute as well as a three-day creative producing course at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. 

The next step toward making the musical a reality, assembling a creative team, has been “a very new experience,” she said. “I do a lot of listening and learning and watching.” That meant enlisting Writers Guild of America Award-winning playwright Hilary Bettis, whose grandfather was of Mexican descent, to write the musical’s book.  Partnering as well with Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, a native of Colombia; lyricist Michelle Rodriguez, whose father and grandmother work with undocumented immigrants; and Grammy and Latin-Grammy award winning producer and composer Julio Reyes Copello, also a native of Colombia, Koenig has found a team that brings its own experience with immigration to the show as well. “A musical is a very substantial collaboration, and I love working in a collaborative environment,” said Koenig.

Despite the challenges facing live theater during the pandemic, “Lives in Limbo” is steadily progressing. Already, the team has done a table reading via Zoom, and, in 2020, one song was presented during an online “Viva Broadway” production. The team hopes to host additional table readings and workshops this year and next, with the goal of the presenting the musical live onstage by 2024, during the Presidential election. The work, Koenig said, has never been more important. “The way that you create change is by creating empathy and awareness,” she said. “Tell the stories, because that is what will resonate.”