These Familiar Spirits

There are few things as exciting as hearing the songs you’ve written sung for the first time, especially when they are sung by some of your most trusted (and talented) collaborators.

Julia and I were thrilled to have a table reading of the complete (and sprawling) first act of These Familiar Spirits – all 90 minutes and 16 songs of it!

Thanks to our readers and singers – Shaleah Adkisson, Liz Carbonell, MinJi Kim, Lauren Marcus, Allison Posner, Hana Slevin, Rebecca Spiro, and Colette Robert – and music director extraordinaire Rich Silverstein for tackling a lot of material in a short amount of time and letting us hear this new project for the very first time! What could be better than an afternoon with generous, talented, and insightful artists??

On to Act II and Michigan later this year!

As we quickly make our way through a first, rought draft of These Familiar Spirits, Julia and I wanted the chance to hear what we’ve written so far read outloud for the first time… mostly just to make sure it makes sense and we’re on the right track. So we enlisted some of our most trusted friends and collaborators (some stretching back over two decades!) to do a cold reading and see what we have!

Beyond being excited about what we’ve written, tonight was the best reminder that there’s nothing like longstanding collaborations with wonderful actors who know your work and know your heart to make you feel invincible (and not at all embarrassed, which is how I normally feel hearing anything for the first time.) I feel so lucky to have LaRaisha Dionne, Sukari Jones, Allison Lian, Ellen Macy, Allison Posner, Lynne Marie Rosenberg, Libby Servais, and Rich Silverstein as an integral part of my writing and my life!

(And the verdict from the read? These Familiar Spirits is a moooooood. Now back to writing!)