Throughout her involvement with 11th Hour Theatre Co., a blessing that began in 2006 and intensified five years ago when she became its associate producer, Kate Galvin has taken pride in presenting character-powered musicals that compel audience members to consider the degree to which they can discover their own depth when dealing with dilemmas. The Passyunk Square resident is once again tackling the type of work that she finds incredibly attractive and is experiencing a taste of novelty in directing her first mainstage show for the Whitman-based company with “LIZZIE,” a rock musical investigation of the Lizzie Borden murder case.
“When we look at contemporary society, we easily see there is just such fascination with true crime,” Galvin, 36, said not far from Old City’s Christ Church Neighborhood House, which is staging the play through Jan. 29. “With this, we’re talking about something that happened in 1892, and so many people are still obsessed with it. That’s pretty telling.”
Galvin and a quartet of actresses, including Passyunk Square peer Alex Keiper in the title role and South-of-South resident Meredith Beck, are executing a fully realized production of what 11th Hour offered four years ago as a Next Step Concert Series treatment of the trial and acquittal of Borden, a Falls River, Mass. resident whom authorities suspected of using an axe to slay her stepmother and father. The 21st-century take on the incident finds the thespians fronting a band for a performance “filled with rage, sex, betrayal, and bloody murder.”
“How could anyone resist that?” Galvin said with a laugh of the effort by collaborators Steven Cheslik-Demeyer, Alan Stevens Hewitt, and Tim Maner. “What’s really intrigued me is looking at what the work as a whole says about Victorian Era morals, how those estimations of human behavior linger and perhaps hinder us today, and the examination of women’s place in society, meaning how willing we are to be, as we should, open-minded about our biases toward and considerations of women.”
To assist with their comprehension of the Borden tale’s appeal, the group visited the New England town, including the home where the killings occurred, an experience the director dubbed “beautiful and weird.” Uniting research from their November trip with intense appreciation for the stage-based material, they are excitedly analyzing why Lizzie Borden, who “took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks” before delivering 41 to her patriarch, so says a poem, continues to captivate.
“The gender question stuck in my mind,” Galvin said, noting how convicting Borden would have meant the shattering of the all-male jury’s estimation of expected female behavior. “The attention this received, such as the Associated Press wire service coverage, and still gets are akin to what we see in the media today where we wonder not only why people resort to violence but also why we can’t shake the interest in these crimes from our minds.”
Galvin has thought of theater as a galvanizer since her childhood days in Jenkintown. Always attentive to the allure of entertaining, she grew up on musicals, community theater productions, plays, and ballets and tested her talent as a performer. New York University helped to heighten her enthusiasm for musical theater, yet, even with the bright lights of Broadway painting a radiant picture of what life could offer, it was not enough to convince the up-and-coming talent to live there for good. Philadelphia is her scene.
“I think the city is a really good fit for me,” Galvin said, noting she often feels spoiled in having so many inspirational contemporaries, particularly in South Philly. “I’d say there’s less pressure to feel locked in to one pursuit, meaning you are going to find receptivity to your varied skillset if you’re willing to see where it can take you. In New York, some people become fixated on being maniacal about stuff, and that can be stifling. Here, one project that doesn’t go entirely well is not going to sink your career.”
She initially grew to love the city’s status as a stage-friendly location through an apprenticeship at the Walnut Street Theatre, whom she has gone on to help more than 70 times through casting endeavors. Her website notes “I’m the first to admit that I never set out to become a writer,” but she indeed added scribe to her list of titles through graduate studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her stint across the Atlantic Ocean yielded 2005’s “Austentacious,” a musical comedy that became a FringeArts hit in Philadelphia the next year. This city came calling again following her studies, and Galvin has enjoyed the aforementioned versatility through directing, casting, coaching and writing.
“I love that Philadelphia can make it possible for someone to say ‘I do this’ and ‘I do that’ and really help to make that person’s potential take off,” Galvin, whose eye for overseeing a cast earned her a Barrymore Award for Inis Nua Theatre Co.’s “Midsummer [a play with songs],” said. “It’s refreshing to know so many people who want to think outside of the box and present wonderful work because you just know it’s going to be a great experience each time.”
Galvin especially reveres how musicals contribute to that vibe, classifying them as a synthesis of storytelling. Since 11th Hour dedicates itself to producing musicals, she loves that “LIZZIE” is again giving her and the rest of the personnel a high-profile chance to shine. That the material has a very dark identity resonates with the director, who last year trekked to Dallas to oversee “Creep,” a Jack the Ripper analysis that she is looking to secure stagings of in London.
“I’m generally a very happy person, don’t get me wrong,” she laughed. “Those dark elements of life come out somehow, though, for most people, and my work seems the outlet for me. ‘LIZZIE’ is a great means to look at what those elements can teach us about ourselves.”
Galvin hopes to be able to stage the work in Falls River this summer when the community acknowledges the anniversary of the killings. Even if that does not occur, she will nonetheless have a busy year, including a March journey to Maine to helm “Buyer & Cellar” and April’s “Road Show” Next Step Concert Series for 11th Hour.
“Being busy is good,” Galvin said. “That means there are stories that people care about hearing. I know I’m keen on helping to tell them.” SPR
LIZZIE
Playing through Jan. 29
Christ Church Neighborhood
House, 20 N. American St.
Tickets: $19-$44
267–987–9865
11thhourtheatrecompany.org
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com.
Photos provided by 11th Hour Theatre Co.
