When he decided to apply for the Watson Fellowship last September, Willie Gould ’06 was mostly just intrigued by the idea of being paid to play basketball.
“A friend of mine was telling me about a kid who got paid $25,000 to, as he put it, play basketball around the world,” Gould said.
As the winner of one of this year’s 50 Watson Fellowships, Gould will spend the next year not playing sports, but researching the use of comedic theater for political and social change in Greece, England, Honduras, Brazil, and Chile.
“Comedy is a way to actually speak the truth and not get punished for it,” Gould said, using examples ranging from Shakespeare to modern Brazilian street theater. “I always thought that comedy was the best way to speak truth to power.”
Each year, the Watson Fellowship awards 50 students around the country with $25,000 to travel the world and study a subject of their choice. Past awards have funded research into breadmaking, drumming, whitewater rafting, and healthcare.
“The Watson is looking for seriously creative people in all different fields,” said Louise Brown, Dean of the class of 2009 and coordinator of the Wesleyan Watson selection committee. “[They look for] people who can work independently, people who are willing to challenge themselves as they pursue their passion. What they have done in their lives up to this point is a springboard for their proposal.”
For Gould, his interest in comedic theater began with his father, who works as a clown and a teacher of physical comedy and Shakespeare.
“I kind of grew up in this tradition of comedy and political activism,” Gould said. “It’s something that I grew with and then made on my own.”
Gould will begin his year of travel in August, starting in Greece to study ancient Greek comedy and tragedy, which he calls the roots of political satire. From there he will go to England to research Shakespeare’s use of satire; Gould noted that Shakespeare would perform plays critical of the monarchy even when Queen Elizabeth I was in the audience. The title of his project, “This is Not Altogether Fool, My Lord,” is a quote from King Lear.
After leaving Europe he will spend the rest of his year in Latin and South America, studying Honduran political theater, Brazilian street theater and capoeira, and working with the Victor Jara Foundation in Chile. Jara was a Chilean poet killed as a political prisoner during a coup in 1973, and his widow established a performing arts space in his name.
“Places like Greece and England were obvious [travel locations] in terms of my project, because I wanted to get the historical background,” Gould said. “I knew I wanted to go to Latin America because that’s where I have experience. Within there I really focused on where I had contacts and where I knew that this sort of art was being practiced.”
Gould studied abroad in Bolivia during his junior year, an experience he believes was good preparation for next year.
“Bolivia is a really intense place,” Gould said. “I knew that after experiencing Bolivia I could survive in any other Latin American place.”
Though the Watson does not demand any major report or written project from its fellows, the $25,000 award does come with stipulations. Fellows cannot study in a country where they have already spent a significant amount of time and cannot return to the United States for a year.
“It’ll be hard to be alone for a year, but that’s not really a concern for me,” Gould said. “I’ll be meeting people along the way.”
The application process for the Watson begins in September and winners are notified in March. Wesleyan applicants are narrowed down from eight finalists to four nominees after being interviewed by the national Watson Committee. Though the interviews were completed in November, Gould only learned of his award two weeks ago.
“Because I didn’t come up with the idea until late August, I didn’t really have any expectations,” he said. “I didn’t go into it thinking ‘I’m going to win. It seemed like such a long shot.’”
According to Brown, despite the competition among his fellow students, Gould’s proposal stood out.
“It’s a very tough selection because so many proposals are so very, very good,” Brown said. “What captured the committee had to do with his involvement in theater and in comedy and his interest in looking at theater and comedy as a way of critiquing a political situation. That’s a very compelling idea.”
Though Gould is not certain of what he will do when his year-long fellowship is over, he knows the Watson will benefit his future work.
“Definitely education and theater are in my future,” he said. “I’ll definitely use everything I learned in teaching kids.”
For juniors interested in applying for one of next year’s Watson Fellowships, there will be an informational session on Thursday, April 20 at 4:15 p.m. in PAC 002. Contact Dean Brown for additional information.
Leave a Reply