Alexander Sage Oyen and Jessica Kahkoska's Discount Ghost Stories Releases Debut Album 'Famous Last Words'

Alexander Sage Oyen and Jessica Kahkoska's rock collaboration Discount Ghost Stories releases its debut album, Famous Last Words, today.

Discount Ghost Stories is an afterlife rock band of ghost musicians that explores the stories of souls forgotten by history. Incorporating text from historical archives and the American folk canon into lyrics, the band re-imagines the "tall tales around the campfire" tradition as multimedia rock concerts and albums.

This debut album is an introduction to the band itself, chronicling of the lives and deaths of each member. These include a rollercoaster casualty, an unlucky naval hero, a heretical astronomer, a daredevil tailor, and more.

Famous Last Words features vocals by Alexander Sage Oyen, Jessica Kahkoska, Evan Tyor, Jakob Reinhardt, ElAnna White, Anne Wechsler, Amanda Savan, Henry Colle, Ricky White, and Cynthia Meng. The album was produced and mixed by Jakob Reinhart, with additional vocal production by Luke McGinnis and Evan Tyor.

Famous Last Words was conceived by Alexander Sage Oyen and Jessica Kahkoska. Lyrics and Music are by Alexander Sage Oyen, with dramaturgy by Jessica Kahkoska.

Discount Ghost Stories was launched in September 2015 with the support of the Silver Plume Historical Society and the George Rowe Museum in Colorado and received a workshop at the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University in June 2016.

Discount Ghost Stories is planning upcoming concerts in New York City, inviting a range of collaborators to join their ghost band in singing the stories of wandering souls. NYC-based director Austin Regan helms upcoming live shows and media, including music videos and live performance videos.

The album is available for free download at www.discountghoststories.com

Alexander Sage Oyen is the recipient of the 2014 ASCAP Foundation's Lucille and Jack Yellen award for lyricists. His musicals include OUTLAWS (Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals- book by James Presson, dir. Noah Himmelstein), ARCHIE'S FINAL PROJECT (Book by James Presson and David Lee Miller), DIVA (book by Sean Patrick Monahan), A NIGHT LIKE THIS (book, music, lyrics, directed by Blayze Teicher, 54 Below) and MOMENT BY MOMENT (directed by Brandon Ivie, 54 Below. Production at Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand). He and collaborator James Presson were awarded the 2013-2014 Dramatist Guild Fellowship and their musical, OUTLAWS, was the recipient of the 2014 ASCAP Workshop. He was named one of Playbill's "Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers You Should Know," and he was selected for the 2014 Johnny Mercer Songwriter's Project. His music has been heard at Lincoln Center, Goodspeed Opera House, Symphony Space, 54 Below, Joe's Pub, Playwrights Horizons, The Signature Theatre, New World Stages, The Laurie Beechman Theatre and venues in Thailand, London, The Netherlands and all across the world. His theatrical rock band, Discount Ghost Stories! can be seen playing through every borough and the astral plains. The cast album for his song cycle, MOMENT BY MOMENT, is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon. Proud member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild.

Jessica Kahkoska is a graduate of Northwestern University. In New York, she has been seen in Carrie II (54 Below), Outlaws (Le Poisson Rouge), The White Rose (New York Theatre Barn), At Buffalo (NYMF), The Mapmaker's Opera (NYMF), We are the Tigers (54 Below), Till Death Do Us Part (Gallery Players Overture Series), Tell Tale (Thespis Theatre Festival), Miles and Me, Vestige (Musical Theatre Factory), Pyre Cantata (Bushwick Starr). Regional theatre credits include Theatre Aspen, American Stage Theatre Company, Lake Dillon Theatre Company, Coriolis Theatre Company, Notre Dame Shakespeare, The Smithsonian American Folk Life Festival, and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. She is a member of the Musical Theatre Factory, produces the Voices Rising Podcast for World Pulse Organization in Portland, and is a senior mentor with Minds Matter New York City.

Austin Regan is a New York based director. Recent productions include the world premiere of Alexandra Silber's The Trojan Women (Hangar Theatre); Mad Libs Live!, a new interactive musical for young audiences Off-Broadway at New World Stages; Loose, Wet, Perforated (Guerilla Opera); YousaidShesaidHesaid by Christopher Oscar Peña and Molly Joyce (Pioneer Works/Ferus Festival); The Blind (The Flea Theater); Red Riding Hood (The Hangar Theatre); Peter Lerman's The Sacred Harp (Musical Theatre Factory); Spring Awakening (two productions, at the Boston Conservatory and at the Krannert Center/UIUC); #MormonInChief (Kraine Theater); Horse Play (Dixon Place); Floyd Collins; and The Who's Tommy. Austin has directed and developed new work at the Hangar Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, MTF 4x15, Julia Miles Theater, the Zipper Factory, #serials@theflea, the Metropolitan Room, the 92nd St. Y, the 52nd Street Project, New York University, the Boston Conservatory, and the United Nations. His assistant and associate directing, mostly with Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer, includes Broadway (American Idiot, Everyday Rapture, On A Clear Day...) and the Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto). Austin is a Drama League Directors Project Fellow, a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, a founding member of the Musical Theatre Factory, and a former Resident Director (2013-2015) at the Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning Flea Theater under artistic director Jim Simpson. He is the director of web series This Is Not A Comedy and Such Good Friends: A Tribute to Nichols and May.