LAFPI

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY 

Presents the Final Production of its 46^th Season, the Southern California premiere of

A GROUNDBREAKING NEW MUSICAL CELEBRATING WOMEN WHO CHANGED AMERICA!

JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL

Book by Lauren Gunderson

Directed by Jenny Sullivan

 

Limited Engagement begins Thursday, June 4

at The New Vic Theatre in Santa Barbara!

 

Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara (ETC), Santa Barbara’s only professional theatre company and a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), brings a groundbreaking new musical about the women who shaped the highest court in the land, the Southern California premiere of JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL, with music by Bree Lowdermilk, lyrics by Kait Kerrigan, book by America’s most produced playwright Lauren Gunderson and directed by Jenny Sullivan. JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL, the final production of ETC’s 2024/2025 season, will perform Thursday, June 4 through Sunday, June 21, 2025 (with a press opening on Saturday, June 6 at 8:00pm) at The New Vic Theatre, 33 W. Victoria Street. 

Experience the captivating story of three remarkable women who transformed American jurisprudence forever—Sandra Day O’Connor, the pioneering first female Supreme Court Justice; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the tireless champion for gender equality; and Sonia Sotomayor, the Court’s first Latina Justice, JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL follows their extraordinary journeys from law school to the highest court in the land, highlighting the personal and professional obstacles they overcame in a male-dominated legal world. Through stirring music, sharp humor, and emotional depth, this innovative production celebrates these judicial icons who forever changed what Justice looks like in America. 

“This remarkable creative team has crafted a powerful and entertaining musical that brings to life the extraordinary stories of these pioneering women jurists,” said Scott DeVine, ETC’s executive artistic director. “Lauren Gunderson’s book, Bree Lowdermilk’s music, and Kait Kerrigan’s lyrics come together seamlessly to create a musical that does justice to these remarkable trailblazers. Our exceptional cast, led by three of musical theatre’s finest performers, brings these iconic women to life with dignity, humor, and heart. JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL promises to be both an educational journey and an uplifting theatrical experience that celebrates the ongoing fight for equality under the law.”                                                                     

LAUREN GUNDERSON (Playwright) is one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in Theatre Award, the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award; a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Weisberger Award, and John Gassner Award for Playwriting; and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her play The Catastrophist, about her husband virologist Nathan Wolfe, premiered digitally in January 2021. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and The Half-Life of Marie Curie premiered off-Broadway and is now at Audible.com. Her work is published at Bloomsbury (Revolutionary Women: A Lauren Gunderson Anthology, anthropology, I and You), Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil and Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book “Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon” is available from Two Lions/Amazon. She is the book writer for musicals with Ari Afsar (Jeannette), Dave Stewart and Joss Stone (The Time Traveller’s Wife), Joriah Kwamé (“Sinister”), Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk (JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL and Earthrise), and Kira Stone (Built for This). She is a board member of The Playwrights Foundation. LaurenGunderson.com 

BREE LOWDERMILK (Music) is an acclaimed composer whose work includes The Mad Ones, Henry & Mudge, and The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown. Her music has been performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and theaters nationwide. Lowdermilk’s compositions are known for their emotional resonance and contemporary sophistication, perfectly capturing both the gravity and humanity of the Supreme Court JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL is portrayed in this production. 

KAIT KERRIGAN (Lyrics) is an award-winning bookwriter, lyricist, and playwright. BROADWAY: The Great Gatsby (book); WEST END: The Great Gatsby, The Time Traveller’s Wife (add’l lyrics with a score by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart); OFF-BROADWAY: The Mad Ones (book and lyrics), Henry and Mudge (book and lyrics). Also in 2025: The Heart (book and additional lyrics) at La Jolla Playhouse, The Great Gatsby in Seoul, The Mad Ones off-West End at the Other Palace, Indigo (book) at the Leicester Curve, UK. Additional regional credits include musicals: JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL (lyrics), Earthrise (lyrics); as well as plays: Father/Daughter, Imaginary Love, and Disaster Relief. Her immersive house party The Bad Years (concept, book, and lyrics) had two sold-out pop-up productions in Brooklyn. DIGITAL: “A Killer Party” (screenplay with co-writer Rachel Axler). Albums include The Great Gatsby, The Mad Ones, Kerrigan-Lowdermilk Live, and her debut with Bree Lowdermilk Our First Mistake, which hit #1 on the digital singer-songwriter charts. Her songs include viral hits “Run Away with Me” and “Go Tonight”. Her shows have been developed by La Jolla Playhouse, Page 73, Marin Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre, and others. Awards: Kleban Award for libretto, Jonathan Larson Award for lyric-writing, Most Promising Lyricist Award from the Theatre Hall of Fame, Edgerton Award for FATHER/DAUGHTER; residencies at Page 73, Dramatists Guild Fellows, Rhinebeck, Goodspeed’s Johnny Mercer Project, and MacDowell. She is an alumna of Barnard College and the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and a member of the Dramatists Guild. @kaitkerrigan on social media.  

JENNY SULLIVAN (Director) directed ETC’s The Children (with Nancy Travis, Linda Purl and Michael Butler), Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical (with Linda Purl and David Engel), Sleuth (with Daniel Gerroll and Matthew Floyd Miller); Rubicon’s Twilight: Los Angeles-1992 (with Chris Butler) and The Gin Game (with Joe Spano and JoBeth Williams). Some of Jenny’s favorite productions include Tom Dugan’s Wiesenthal (Acorn Theatre off-Broadway & The Wallis Annenberg) and Jackie Unveiled (The Wallis Annenberg); The Dresser at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (with Len Cariou and Granville Van Dusen); Geffen Playhouse: Nora & Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore; Laguna Playhouse productions: The Year of Magical Thinking, Steel Magnolias and I Am My Own Wife; The World Premiere of Jane Anderson’s The Baby Dance: Pasadena Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theatre (CT Critics’ Directing Award) and Lucille Lortel Theatre off-Broadway; Other ETC productions include: The Legend of Georgia McBride, I Am My Own Wife(Indy Award), Baby Doll, Good People, Tea at Five, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Lion in Winter (Indy Award), The Mystery of Irma Vep (Indy Award), The Clean House (Indy Award), The Memory of Water and Dublin Carol (Indy Award). Rubicon Theatre: The Baby Dance: Mixed, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Darrow, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hamlet, Defying Gravity, The Rainmaker. Jenny’s past Santa Barbara productions include Marat/Sade, The Way We Live Now: Theatre for Our Lives in This Crisis Called AIDS (Center Stage Theatre) and Listen for Wings (Access Theatre); Nancy Nufer’s Food Confessions, Mother Earth/Father Sky and The Shadow Box, all played at the Lobero Theatre. Jenny was a founding member of Santa Barbara’s “The Mime Caravan,” the creators of the annual Summer Solstice Celebration. Films: “Access All Areas” and “The Next Best Thing” (in which she had the good fortune to direct her father Barry). Her film “I Know Catherine, The Log Lady” is currently being screened across the country. Jenny’s most proud of the World Premiere of her play J for J starring Jenny, Jeff Kober and the late great John Ritter. 

Producers for JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL are Kathy Weber and Dr. Philip J. Wyatt. Associate Producers are Cynthia Brown and Arthur Ludwig. Supporting Producer are Carla Amussen, Debra and Peter Bertling, Chris and Dori Carter, Beverly DeVine, Sybil Rosen, Sheila M. Stone and Robert Turbin and Carol Vernon. Dana White is ETC’s Visionary Producer for the season. 

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE 

JUSTICE: A NEW MUSICAL previews on Thursday, June 4 at 7:30pm & Friday, June 5 at 8:00pm; opens on Saturday, June 6 at 8:00pm (press opening) and runs through Sunday, June 21, 2025 at 2:00pm at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara. 

Performances are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm; with added performances on Tuesday, April 8 at 7:30pm, Saturday, June 13 at 3pm, Wednesday, June 17 at 2pm and Saturday, June 20 at 3:00pm. 

Ticket prices range from $25 – $94. All Patrons 35 and under are always $35. Student tickets are $25. Single tickets are available through the ETC ticket office at (805) 965-5400, or online at etcsb.org. Prices subject to change.