Katrina Lenk, Amber Grey, Kuhoo Verma and More to Take Part in AGAINST WOMEN & MUSIC! Concert Reading

The Civilians will present a concert reading of Kate Douglas and Grace McLean's new musical Against Women & Music! The musical, which was developed in The Civilians R&D Group, will be directed by Sarna Lapine and music directed by Simone Allen. The cast includes Tony-nominee Amber Grey, Andrew Kober, Tony-winner Katrina Lenk, Heath Saunders, Scott Stangland, Kuhoo Verma, and Natalie Walker. Against Women & Music! will be presented on May 6 at 7:30 PM ET. To register for this free event, please visit https://thecivilians.org/.

Against Women & Music! is an absurdist-horror Victorian chamber musical. Celine is a widow emerging from a year of mourning following her husband's death and grappling with her peculiar daughter Geneva's debut into high society. The doctor prescribes Geneva piano lessons, as the latest studies in women's health show that music can help finesse "emotional intelligence" and "act on the unconscious mind to communicate order." But as these lessons progress, Celine discovers a sinister presence has possessed her daughter.

"We want the music in this show to be both seductive and sinister, and for it to be the key to accessing truths that are maybe harder for our main character to hear in her quotidian life," says composer/lyricist Grace McLean. "Working with Kate is so exciting because of the absurdity and humor she brings to her rich, grounded-in-research writing. When we find ourselves cackling, we know we're on to something!"

"This piece was inspired by a lecture I saw at NYU by James Kennaway about his book Bad Vibrations: The History of the Idea of Music as a Cause of Disease. This intersection of music and the history of pathologizing women's nervous system was nefarious and surreal - somehow it felt like there was a musical in there. I wrote to Grace with some notes from the lecture - that was the beginning of our collaboration on this piece" says book-writer/lyricist Kate Douglas. "There is no one I would rather be working with on this piece. Grace has brought out some of my best work as a writer. She's taught me so much about trusting instinct and how to start over. We also have a similar twisted sense of humor - Against Women & Music! is steeped in it."

The creative team of Against Women & Music! also includes stage manager Lisa Chernoff, assistant director Kristolyn Lloyd, rehearsal pianist Simone Allen, music transcriptionist Jessie Rosso, and video editor Preston Martin.

Against Women & Music! is part of The Civilians annual cabaret series featuring new works made from creative investigations into real life; the series is supported by The Axe-Houghton Foundation. The musical has been developed at Turkey Land Cove Foundation, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and The Civilians R&D Group.