THE WICKHAM WAY a play by Rachel Rubin-Ladutke with four original songs by yours truly, had its first live run in August at Hackensack Performing Arts Center, produced by Teaneck New Theatre. Congrats to the cast and crew for a job well done!
I’m back from five weeks away in New Hampshire where I composed music and performed it in the play An Iliad, written by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, at Shaker Bridge Theatre. I had a terrific time working on this unique, challenging and collaborative production with actor David Bonanno and director Susan Haefner.
Check out this talkback we did after the Sunday April 24th performance of the play that also included Dartmouth College Classics Professor Roberta Stewart, who leads book discussions on the Classics with Veterans. I fielded some questions about the music towards the end of the talkback. Thanks to Okemo Valley TV for filming!
Teaneck New Theatre announces AUDITIONS for THE WICKHAM WAY, a new play by Rachel Rubin Ladutke with original music by Lisa Brigantino. Director: Arlene Schulman. This is a NON-EQUITY Production.
Synopsis: Liza Cooper, an up-and-coming folk singer, returns to her native Wickham, Vermont with her girlfriend Marti in tow. Liza fled Wickham ten years earlier, after a traumatic experience on the eve of her high school graduation. She vowed never to return…until an important occasion demands her presence. Over the course of an emotionally fraught weekend, Liza wrestles to come to terms with her past, in the form of her estranged childhood best friend, Charlie, and makes significant choices about her future with Marti.
Because Liza is a professional musician, THE WICKHAM WAY features four songs by Lisa Brigantino.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
LIZA COOPER – female – 27 – lesbian – A rising singer/songwriter. Returning to Wickham from NYC where she lives with the love of her life, Liza is creative, talented, and loving, but has serious trust issues and is petrified about confronting her past. In this production Liza sings four songs accompanying herself on guitar.
MARTI (MARTHA) KAPLAN – female – 29 – lesbian – Liza’s life partner. Supportive, caring, self-confident, protective and totally in love with Liza, she is on the verge of emerging from the corporate world. She is new to Wickham but excited to be wherever life with Liza takes her.
SHELBY BREWSTER – female – late 30s. Liza’s aunt, Shelby is quirky, warm and caring. With a heart of gold she is the kind of person everyone confides their troubles to.
CHARLIE MORSE – male – 27 – gay. Liza’s childhood best friend. Charlie doesn’t understand why Liza left Wickham and he misses his best friend terribly. He is hurt by his grandfather’s seeming rejection over his sexuality. He is, by nature, affectionate, carefree, playful, family-oriented, and open. All he really wants is for his world to be back to the way it was.
ABNER MORSE – male – late 70’s. A wonderful, crotchety old New Englander (from generations back), Abner is Charlie’s grandfather, Liza’s high school English teacher, Shelby’s neighbor and the owner of The Wayfarer Inn. He is recently widowed and still grieving. He has serious difficulty understanding and dealing with Charlie’s sexuality.
Auditions:Sunday, May 15th from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.(Open call for all roles. Please attend THIS DATE if you would like to audition for Liza.) Location: The Woodrow Wilson School, 81 Hauxhurst Avenue, Weehawken, NJ on Tuesday, May 24th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Additional actors will be seen and callbacks, as needed, will also be held. What to Prepare: Sides will be provided at the audition.***
ANYONE AUDITIONING FOR LIZA WILL BE EXPECTED TO DO THE FOLLOWING: **** Play 32 bars of a song in the folk style on an acoustic steel string guitar, using a pick, while singing along; AND* Play 32 bars of a song in the folk style on an acoustic steel string guitar, while fingerpicking and singing along. (Bring your own guitar!)All actors auditioning for LIZA should attend the SUNDAY, MAY 15th audition. If this is not possible, please send a video showing the above singing/playing to these following email addresses: RachelWrites67@gmail.com, arleneschulman@yahoo.com.
Rehearsals will begin in late June/early July. Performances will be at the Hackensack Performing Arts Center. Tech: August 14th-18th. Shows: August 19th, 20th (two shows) and 21st.
I’m excited to announce that I will be composing music and performing it live in a production of the play “An Iliad,” a modern day re-telling of the Homer classic, written by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hara at Shaker Bridge Theatre in Enfield, NH. The one-man play stars actor David Bonnano and is directed by my dear friend, Susan Haefner. Performances run Thursdays through Sundays from April 14th through May 1st. For more information and to get tickets, click here.
Check out Lisa’s latest newsletter here. Subscribe to the newsletter and get a FREE download of Lisa’s song “Every Day’s A Journey.” Newsletters are sent only about once a month.
Lisa was honored to be highlighted by Songcraft Anthology, a global anthology of songwriting that showcases voices from around the world who can offer their various perspectives and unique stories to the global music community. Their mission is to be a resource for collaborative songwriting in this disconnected age, and to provide the community with an interactive platform to guide, help, and advise one another.
Lisa was thrilled to be invited to participate in an a cappella virtual choir for the One World Vocal Project. Lisa sang Alto 2 on an original Ben Bram arrangement of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” featuring Kevin Fox from The Swingle Singers. Check it out here.
At the beginning of March 2021, I received word that a concert that Susan Haefner and were supposed to have done live in 2020, which had been canceled due to Covid, had been rescheduled for November 2021. Last March, approximately one year after all hell broke loose, was also when vaccines were starting to become plentiful and it finally felt like things were beginning to change. I knew that I wanted to write a song for that live November concert specifically for Susan to sing and I ended up writing a song entitled “One Year.” Here is a link to a performance of the song filmed during the soundcheck for our November concert at Friends of Ludlow Auditorium in Ludlow, VT.
Lisa and her sister Lori were recently interviewed by their friend Hilary Adams, a theatre director, personal coach and equine gestalt coach, for her podcast “Story and Horse.” The podcast shares stories and inspirations from creative lives. The episode premieres Saturday, December 4, 2021 and can be heard here.
Lisa was honored to receive a Grammy certificate from The Recording Academy for playing on the 2020 Grammy Award winning Best Children’s Album “All The Ladies” by Joanie Leeds, produced by Lucy Kalantari. The entire album features female musicians and a female production team. Lisa played acoustic guitar on “Mother Earth” and djembe on “Lioness.”