Retreat was magical for Wellesley College playwright

By Cindy Cantrell
Globe correspondent

College professor Melinda Lopez remembers the three weeks she recently spent attending the tenth annual Sundance Institute Playwrights’ Retreat in northern Wyoming as a “magical experience.” It was also a productive time during which she revised a play and finished writing a new one.

Lopez, an award-winning playwright who teaches theater studies at Wellesley College and the master of fine arts playwriting program at Boston University, was one of seven playwrights and composers selected to attend the retreat at the Ucross Foundation, a picturesque 22,000-acre cattle ranch. During that time, she finished revising her play “Caroline in Jersey,” which will be performed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer. She also completed researching and writing a new play on evolutionist Charles Darwin which was commissioned by the National Institutes of Health.

According to Lopez, retreat participants are provided with complete privacy during the day so they may focus on work, and are asked only to gather each evening for dinner with their colleagues.

“It was an extraordinarily beautiful setting with an amazing group of people,” said Lopez, who lives in Bedford. “At home, it’s difficult to find three or four hours at a stretch to focus on one thing. This time was a godsend.”

According to Lopez, retreat participants are provided with complete privacy during the day so they may focus on work, and are asked only to gather each evening for dinner with their colleagues.

“It was an extraordinarily beautiful setting with an amazing group of people,” said Lopez, who lives in Bedford. “At home, it’s difficult to find three or four hours at a stretch to focus on one thing. This time was a godsend.”