Fifteen years? Fifteen years!

Fifteen years ago today I sent an email to someone I’d gone to grad school with to see if she might want to write a short musical together. My good friend Jeremy Jones-Kronenberg had the chance to direct a one-act for Prospect Theatre Company and wanted to do something new but the catch was that performances were in six weeks. I’d written a handful of songs quickly with Julia Meinwald so I reached out to her… And the rest is, well, my own personal history.

The last fifteen years have included 5 full-length musicals, 5 short musicals, 13 productions (including 3 world premieres!), 17 readings, 8 writers’ groups, 7 residencies & retreats, and over 200 songs (211 at last count but I’m probably missing some!) And we have a good four or five shows at various stages on the horizon that will hopefully carry us through another fifteen years of wonderful collaboration!

To musicals!

Back to Flint!

After a three year delay, The Magnificent Seven will receive its world premiere at Flint Repertory Theatre from March 31-April 16, 2023!

I can’t wait to be back at Flint Rep (in the heart of gymnastics country) for the next incarnation of The Magnificent Seven. The theater (and the people who make it) have been so supportive and stuck with us through, you know, a global pandemic, and it means so much to go back to the place that heard it first. FULL CIRCLE!

Also full circle… It means so much to be working with director Catie Davis on this project. We were with her in the rehearsal room for Pregnancy Pact in the first week of March 2020 when we all realized just what was going on… And since that production never made it out of the rehearsal room it feels good and correct to be back together to see this one through!

Check out the full team below, and visit flintrep.org/the-magnificent-seven/ for more info and tickets.

Director: Catie Davis
Choreographer: Duane Lee Holland, Jr.
Music Director: Jeremy Robin Lyons
Scenic Design: Ann Beyersdorfer
Costume Design: Adam M. Dill
Lighting Design: Jake DeGroot
Sound Design: Matt Otto
Props Design: Miranda Sue Hartman
Stage Manager: Melissa A. Nathan
Assistant Stage Manager: Rebecca MacCreery

Twenty-twenty-two.

What a year of firsts!

I took on some new roles – theater producer, album producer, Covid safety manager, press rep, props designer – but mostly got the chance to stay in my favorite role: collaborator.

I feel so lucky to have continued to work with some of my longstanding favorite artists and built relationships with some of my new favorite artists: Hannah Avery, Michael Blancafor, Seamus Buxton, Jennifer Chi, Shannon Clarke, Nikki DiLoreto, Mike Epperhart, Quin Friedrich, Holly Gould, Ellie Handel, Sam Heldt, MinJi Kim, Zac Larson, Kylie Lavrenchik, Amy Linden, Ellen Condon Macy, Evan Maltby, Paul Morgan, Jeremy Pletter, Sarah Plotkin, Allison Posner, Alex Ratner, Meredith Rise, Lynne Marie Rosenberg, Libby Servais, Hannah Sgambellone, Josslyn Shaw, Christine Sienicki, Kelly Soares, Ally Turlo, Jessica Walker, Elisabeth Weidner & Racquel Williams.

I look forward to new collaborators, new challenges, and new ideas (and getting to see some of the hard work of the last year coming to fruition!) in 2023.

2022 Relentless Award

We are honored that REB+VoDKa+ME received an Honorable Mention for the 2022 Relentless Award, in honor of Adam Schlesinger, for works that “are challenging, exhibit fearlessness, exude passion, and are relentlessly truthful.”

It made it that much better to see that some of our very favorite friends and writers who are making some of my very favorite musicals were also recognized.

Thanks to the American Playwriting Foundation for this honor!