In Tempo—Twisted information: Professor guides listeners to the tune of media literacy
“Click: Connect IRL,” an album about media literacy that will become the cornerstone of a musical by the same name in 2026, is now available on streaming services. Sue Ellen Christian, professor of communication and Presidential Innovation Professor 2021-24, and her collaborators wanted to release the musical’s songs prior to its launch to build excitement for the show. Hear from Christian about her passion for the truth and creating spaces where people of all backgrounds can connect
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act on all forms of communication. My background is as a journalist, and I find media literacy an ideal way to communicate to people how all media messaging, including news, is constructed, by whom, about whom and why. The driving focus in my yearslong effort to communicate the skills and concepts of media literacy is how to get people’s attention in our distracted digital society.
Two unavoidable realities compelled me to start writing a musical about media literacy for performance by high schools and community theatres. First, the unavoidable reality that we live in highly partisan and divisive times. As in all my public-facing work in media literacy, I am looking for third places, for an audience of people from all political persuasions. In the best cases, audiences come because of the reputation of the theatre program or the musical. And in most cases, they come because of who is onstage—to support a student, relative, neighbor. If they are influenced by what happens on stage, that’s a wonderful outcome.
The second unavoidable reality that has propelled this adventure—What am I doing writing a musical?—is the loss in April 2024 of my mother, Jill J. Christian, BM ’56, a proud Bronco. My mother and my late father Daniel K. Christian, BS ’56, met in a music theory class. The two music majors fell in love. My mother, a longtime piano teacher in Kalamazoo, was a natural creative collaborator who always centered youth in her work. When she passed away, this project took on the energy and momentum of a tribute.
“Click: Connect IRL” the musical explores the funny, awful and lovely ways that all members of a high school community are affected by social media and digital content as well as how they find a way through the information chaos to one another in real life(IRL), not digital life.
My irreplaceable partner in “Click: Connect IRL” is Bob Wallis, BS ’94, who is project manager, co-producer and a songwriter on the project. Bob is a longtime member of the Kalamazoo music scene and former head of the Kalamazoo Academy of Rock. Bob’s connections with musicians across the nation have facilitated the musical’s breadth and depth with original songs by artists from New York, San Diego, Nashville and throughout Michigan. We have sought to create a musical with wide variety and appeal, from country to hip-hop to rock.
Among the growing list of artists composing songs for the musical are Nathan Moore; Jeff Moehle, BA ’95; Rachael Davis, BS ’13; Eric O’Daly; Henry Parworth, aka Headband Henny; Rob Cookman, MM ’98; Linda Tellis, aka Lady Ace Boogie; Carla Fernández-Soto; WMU student Annabelle Fuerst of Payton&Annabelle; Nate Madsen; Jeremy Hobbs, aka J. Hobbs; and Cynthea Kelley. WMU theatre students, including Arise Rock and A.J. Christian, will join others in table reads this spring. ■