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.
You Get Another Call
Lois still loves Clark Kent, but it’s no picnic being married to Superman.
New Single Launching February 21, 2025
The Girl Who Cried Different
When Papa sets out to help his daughter Mariella write a musical about what it’s like to be a girl like her in middle school, little does he suspect that it will also be about what it’s like to be him: A rock-star turned stay-at-home Dad.
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
Invitation-only reading of The Girl Who Cried Different, in Minneapolis, on October 6, produced by Yellow Tree Theatre, directed by Austene Van.
Executive Producer of the Cast Album of the William Finn-Danny Ursetti song cycle, Once Every Hundred Years. Release date TBD.
Singles from the After They’ve Gone Concept Album, with music by award winning composer Paul Libman, will be 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.
Other upcoming Taslitz-Ursetti releases include Leighanna, featuring vocals by Rebecca Hart, and both a solo and duet version of, You Get A Call, featuring vocals by Bèlen Moyano and Demond Green.
RECENTLY
Lauren was one of nine storytellers sharing her story, “Too Pitchy to Pitch,” on Thursday evening, May 23rd, at her Princeton Reunion as part of a Moth Radio Hour-like event. The event was recorded and posted on YouTube.
Regretting Almost Everything (Concept Album), featuring Beth Leavel and Jeff Blumenkrantz, and produced by Kathy Sommer and Matt Anthony, is now streaming on all platforms.
To promote the album release, Lauren gave a variety of interviews, including on You’re Not Invisible Over 50 with Kiran Kumar.
Singles “Fun,” “The Music You Made,” “Built for Joy” and “Love Wins”, both by Ursetti & Taslitz, are now available on all streaming platforms.
“Can’t Do It Alone” from Mimosa named Song Slam Finalist by TYA/USA Conference, 2023. Listen here!
Induction into the Recording Academy!