Upcoming Projects
The Amazons of Overcote High
Book by Kirsten Brandt; Lyrics by Kelly Autry; Music by Clay Herzberg
NEW YORK THEATRE FESTIVAL SUMMERFEST (June 5-7, 2025)
The Amazons of Overcote High is a musical about family, rivalry, and redemption. Jordan Castle, the head coach of the Overcote Amazons, is obsessed with winning the big game against the London Governors to redeem himself after a career-ending injury 20 years ago. His children, Noel, Willie, and Tommy, are under intense pressure to uphold the family legacy, especially Noel, the team’s star quarterback.
As the game approaches, Noel begins to question their father’s expectations and struggles to define their own path. After a confrontation at a party leads to a fight with a rival player, Noel unexpectedly bonds with Barry Litterly, the Governors' quarterback, complicating the rivalry further.
While Jordan remains fixated on redemption through his children, the Castle siblings start to assert their independence, pushing back against the weight of their father's past. In the end, Jordan realizes that his redemption isn’t about winning the game but supporting his children’s dreams. The musical blends humor, heart, and energetic songs to explore themes of legacy, individuality, and breaking free from parental expectation
An Iliad
by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare.
Directed by Kirsten Brandt
Featuring Patty Gallagher and musician Ben Leeds Carson.
Playing May 2, 2025. Brian Friel Theatre, Queens University, Belfast, Ireland.
BLIND FURY: The Untold Story of the Queen of Hearts
Book by Kirsten Brandt; Lyrics by Kirsten Brandt and David Kautz; Music by David Kautz; Additional Lyrics by Kevin Prasad; Directed by Michael Navarra Smith
For Ohlone College & Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Scotland August 2025
Playwriting work currently in development.
Please contact me directly…
52
In August of 2020 wildfires raged through California. My family and I were evacuated from our home for almost three weeks. When we returned, we were under a “don’t boil don’t drink” mandate with the water department. And we were the lucky ones.
The 52 is a series of impressions, one artistic exploration for every week of the year beginning in August of 2022, the second anniversary of the fires. These mediations will take a variety of forms: poems, flash fiction, short plays and monologues, photography or visual art. The series will conclude in August of 2023.
Image: Adobe Stock
Grendel’s Mother
A radical feminist retelling of the Beowulf story as seen through the eyes of Grendel’s Mother by Kirsten Brandt.
Cast of 5.
Grendel’s Mother received a staged reading at the Center for Monster Studies’ Festival of Monsters summer of 2022 at UC Santa Cruz, the performance starred Patty Gallagher as Grendel’s Mother, Kinan Valdez as Beowulf, and Artis Anderson, Zoe Adams, and Abi Coomes as The Disir.
Photo: Adobe Stock: Beneath The Surface by David Edwards
40 Elephants
A musical about an all female Victorian era crime syndicate that terrorized London for over 100 years. Book and lyrics by Kirsten Brandt
Photo: Adobe Stock image by razoomanetu
Gewgaw: or the shit all over the house
Cast of 6
A dutiful trip to grandma’s goes awry when everyone arrives to an empty house. Catherine, along with her three feuding daughters and granddaughter, contend with sibling rivalries, entitlement, betrayal, and all the damn tchotchkes grandma left behind.
Image: Dalle-2 AI