What started out as a single song written during the COVID-19 pandemic flourished into a full-fledged musical with lyrics, music, and script. Concordia College alumna Hannah (Kulus) Bakke ‘17 is the mastermind behind “The Garden,” which will be performed Aug. 9-10 by The Children’s Theatre Company, located in Minneapolis.
“The Garden” reimagines the story of the Garden of Eden and tells it through Eve’s perspective. In Bakke’s rendition, Adam, Eve, and Lucifer (a “badass outlaw lady”) perform together in a folk band at a dive bar called The Garden.
Bakke said the story is about a woman finding her voice and learning to trust herself while dealing with perfectionism.
“It’s been a challenge working on someone else’s timeline, but it has pushed me to be a lot braver and breezier about putting out unfinished work for critique. This entire process, and the support, has been incredible,” Bakke said.
She graduated from Concordia with degrees in theatre art and philosophy; however, her road to those majors had a few curves.
Bakke started out majoring in education before deciding she didn’t want to teach in a traditional classroom. After her sophomore year, she realized she needed a change and spent that summer reaching out to faculty for advice.
“There is a lot of pressure to study something that gets you a job after graduation. I was encouraged to change my mindset and realize that college should be fun, life should be fun, and it’s okay to factor that in,” Bakke said.
She did eventually return to education in 2021 when she was hired as a teaching artist at The Children’s Theatre Company.
While performing some songs from “The Garden” at a company potluck, Bakke’s supervisor suggested her musical be performed through the theatre’s Triple Threat program. This is the first time that program has worked with an in-progress piece.
“I never thought I’d be writing a musical but now, of all my artistic identities, it is my most important one,” Bakke said. “I didn’t know that until 25, and I certainly didn’t know it at 20.”
She credits her senior thesis and the opportunities at Concordia for helping her get where she is today. Bakke was able to combine her expertise in theatre and philosophy to create her senior thesis, a philosophical lecture concert of the old operetta “Candide.”
“It was a moment I realized I could just do something if I asked and no one was going to tell me I couldn’t,” she said. “Being someone who had a foot in two departments was an asset, not something that took away from anything.”
Her advice for students is to create in college when there are resources available. She said she had agency in the theatre department and her professors were always eager to help her succeed.
“Whether it’s less pressure or more scaffolding and resources such as funding and community, there’s an environment that encourages creativity at Concordia,” she said.
Written by Alyssa Czernek '25