Lauren Kahane is a lyricist-librettist who lives in Chicago and New York.
Writing credits include: Regretting Almost Everything (Barrington Stage and Feinstein’s/54 Below), You Gave Me a Sheep (National Asian Artists Project), A Statue of Stature (Prospect Theatre Company), Join the Club (The Evanston Arts Center, and The Skokie Theatre), and In My Book (Coastal Carolina University). Other musicals include: The Girl Who Cried Different, Mimosa, For the Birds, Bak Chang (Commission, The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle), After They’ve Gone, and The Quantification of Relative Human Insignificance (Finalist, Sigworks 2016). Lauren is a 2020 MacDowell Fellow.
Lauren has been in residence at MacDowell, The Johnny Mercer Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, The Catwalk Institute, Barrington Stage Company, The 5th Ave Theatre in Seattle, and Coastal Carolina University. Her work has been performed at Joe’s Pub, Lincoln Center, NYTB and various other venues in New York and Chicago. She has an MFA from NYU Tisch, a JD from Harvard Law School, a BA from Princeton University, and a certificate of completion from The Second City Writing Program.
She is a founding member of The HomeBrewed Collective, and a member of The Recording Academy, The Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and The Drama League.
The Girl Who Cried Different
Music by Tommy Barbarella
Lyrics by Mariella Elm
Book & Additional Lyrics by Lauren Kahane
Directed by Courtney Young Socher
SATURDAY, JUNE 14 at 7pm
Dillingham Center for Theatre & Dance, Ithaca, NY 14850
More information at FingerLakesNewWorksFestival.com
SCAN FOR TICKETS!
My dear friend and mentor, William Finn, died last month.
Bill’s belief in me changed my life.
Bill invited me into his life, and his home. He made introductions. He created opportunities for my work to be heard. He told me who I should write with – and told them to write with me.
I firmly believe that it’s because Bill thought I was good, that my classmates decided I was good and wanted to write with me.
Leighanna
New Single
Launching June 20, 2025
The Girl Who Cried Different
Former-Prince keyboardist Tommy gives up his rock star life-style to be around for his family. He takes a position at a Minneapolis music house writing jingles for big-time clients. But the ad industry changes, and suddenly Tommy’s a stay-at-home Dad, working his music gigs around his family’s schedule. He writes, arranges, produces, does session work, plays with the orchestra and at his church. The only thing he won’t do – CAN’T do if he’s to maintain his street cred – is have anything to do with musicals. But when his 13 year old daughter Mariella, who lives with a rare disability, begs him to write a musical with her, Tommy agrees, under the condition that it remain private.
Based on the true story of Tommy Barbarella and his daughter, Mariella Elm, The Girl Who Cried Different is the story of man forced to face his greatest fear to help heal his daughter, and in the process, heals himself.
After They’ve Gone
When Andy and Deena’s youngest son, Ryan, leaves for college, Deena collapses into a pile of dirty laundry. But when Andy’s business fails, Deena pulls herself together and together Andy and Deena open Frenchify, a place where women go to learn to pretend to be French. The business takes off, but, distracted by worry over Ryan, who has a long history of depression, Deena fails to pull her weight. It is only when Deena is compelled to run Frenchify on her own, and Andy is consequently forced to respond to the emotional demands of their children, that they come to appreciate the burden the other has carried, allowing both the business and their marriage to blossom.
Mimosa — The Disobedient Plant
Mimosa is a plant with a special gift: she can dance! Mom begs her to stop. What if she’s seen by a human? Then along comes Molly, a lonely teenager. She catches sight of Mimosa dancing is so delighted by her that despite her Dad’s “no plant” rule, whisks her home. As their friendship buds, Mimosa learns something that could save both their imperiled communities — if only she and Molly could only learn to communicate.
Regretting Almost Everything
An intimate, two-person musical comedy about Love, Sex and Kids. It’s the story of Anne, a middle-aged woman who loves her husband and likes her job but wants — no, needs — more: more passion in her marriage and excitement in her life, and sets out on a quest to get it.
Too Pitchy to Pitch
UPCOMING
A workshop of The Girl Who Cried Different will be presented as part of the first annual Fingerlakes New Works Festival in Ithaca, New York, on June 14th. For more information, go to fingerlakesnewworksfestival.com.
Executive Producer of the Cast Album of the William Finn-Danny Ursetti song cycle, Once Every Hundred Years. Release date TBD.
Taslitz-Ursetti releases Leighanna, featuring vocals by Rebecca Hart.
Summer residency at Drama Club Camp with Danny Ursetti, where we will spend a week focusing on Mimosa: The Disobedient Plant.
RECENTLY
Invitation-only reading of The Girl Who Cried Different, in Minneapolis, on October 6, produced by Yellow Tree Theatre, directed by Austene Van.
Singles from the After They’ve Gone Concept Album, with music by award winning composer Paul Libman, were released weekly beginning September 27, culminating in the release of the complete concept album on November 8th. A discussion of why I decided to release these songs can be found in the newly-added blog.
Release of You Get A Call, featuring vocals by Bèlen Moyano and Demond Green.
Produced Finn-Ursetti song cycle, Once Every Hundred Years, at Williams College in June 2024.
Induction into the Recording Academy!