At the 10th annual Princeton Research Day (PRD) celebration, Princeton senior Jeffery Chen won an Arts & Humanities Award recognizing his creative work in researching and writing an original musical, A Life Worth Living, produced as part of the Program in Theater and Music Theater’s 2024-25 season.

For Princeton Research Day, Chen submitted a three-minute video entitled, “A Life Worth Living: A New Neuroscience Musical.” The video summarizes his original dramatic-comedy musical that premiered in Wallace Theater in November 2024 and includes audio and visual footage from the production. Directed by faculty member Chesney Snow, A Life Worth Living follows Gavin, a teenager with depression who is involuntarily sent to a residential mental health treatment facility. There, he forges bonds with the other teens while working with his therapist to reconcile with both his best friend and his father. Using music—a mix of contemporary pop-rock with hip-hop and jazz—and comedy, A Life Worth Living focuses on topics of platonic love, mental health, and suicide, while exploring themes of grief, acceptance, and radical hope. The musical fulfilled thesis requirements for both Chen’s neuroscience major and his minor in the Program in Theater & Music Theater.

At this year’s PRD, fourteen awards were given for video presentations and another five awards were given to presenters who both submitted a video and presented during the on-campus Showcase on May 8 at Frist Campus Center. The Arts & Humanities Award honors creative work that “illustrates the power of the arts and humanities to deepen cultural understanding, inspire action, or provoke thoughtful discussion,” and recognizes projects that engage diverse campus and community audiences and highlight the lasting impact of the humanities for individuals and society. The award comes with a $1,500 cash prize.

In a proposer’s note he wrote for the playbill for A Life Worth Living, Chen details some aspects of his own mental health journey and explains how the musical is partly semi-autobiographical. Seeking to tell not only his own story but also those from peers in the Princeton community, Chen notes that his musical “is as much about resilience, friendship, and small joys as it is about the challenges of mental health recovery.” As part of his project, Chen organized a post-show talkback with Dr. Calvin R. Chin, Director of Princeton’s Counseling and Psychological Services, to discuss student mental health.

Chen’s project was also supported in part by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ partnership with the IV Fund, which supports student independent work that explores mental well-being and mental health and gives campus audiences a chance to grapple with these matters in generative and generous ways.

Princeton Research Day is an annual, interdisciplinary event that celebrates the research and creative endeavors of the campus-wide community. The event serves as an opportunity for researchers and creators to reach across disciplines by communicating in non-specialist language about their research or creative work. PRD highlights work from across all areas of study at Princeton, including natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and arts and humanities. Presenters include undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and other early-career researchers, all of whom create 3-minute videos describing their projects. Some presenters also choose to participate in the PRD Showcase to discuss their work in-person with attendees. Winners are selected by PRD judges and the viewing public.

Princeton Research Day is a collaborative initiative between the offices of the Dean of the College, the Dean of the Graduate School, the Dean for Research and the Vice President for Campus Life, with support from the Dean of the Faculty and Office of the Provost.