Composer & Playwright
SEE/UNSEE
Music, Lyrics & Book by Lila Blue
Directed and Developed by Jillian Jetton
Music Direction & Additional Orchestration by Noga Cabo
Lila Blue and their ten-piece band conjure a grief ritual from the work and imagined life of artist Hilma af Klint. Surfacing where Blue’s life overlaps with that of the pioneering painter and mystic – in queerness, in love, and in loss – SEE/UNSEE invites you (and any ghosts who might tag along) into a ferocious song cycle séance.
SEE/UNSEE is currently in development through a HERE Arts Center commission supported by NYSCA. It was previously developed in retreat at the Lake Lucille Chekhov Project (2023, 2024), a two-week technical residency at Z Space (2025), and shared in The PRISM Festival for New Queer Musicals at The Brick (2025).
These tracks were recorded at Z Space by Michael Creason in May 2025, and performed by Lila Blue (vocal & guitar), Noga Cabo (vocals, guitar, piano), Adam Cabo (vocals, drums), Mia Pak (vocals), Raquel Chavez (vocals, accordion), Caitlin Cobb-Vialet (vocals, piano), Aviva Jaye (vocals), Kate Kilbane (vocals, bass), and Gunnar Manchester (vocals, violin).
The Cherry Orchard
Directed by Brian Mertes
Composed by Lila Blue and Phillip Roebuck
Orchestrated by the Astrov’s Lounge Band
Brian Mertes’ Cherry Orchard is a nine-hour, site-specific, 52-song theatre-music hybrid orbiting Anton Chekhov’s final play. This piece was developed at Lake Lucille from 2015-2017, and performed there in 2018. A concert of the music from the show was shared at Joe’s Pub as part of the Under the Radar Festival in 2019 & 2020.
These tracks were recorded at Joe’s Pub In Concert (via UTR Fest), and performed by Lila Blue (Vocals, Guitar), Manik Choksi (Vocals), Damon Daunno (Guitar, Vocals), Gabriel Ebert (Vocals), Ashley Frith (Viola), Phillip Roebuck (Guitar), Brendan Spieth (Vocals) & Astrov’s Lounge Band
THIS BUG IS GAY
Written & Performed by Genevieve Simon
Developed & Directed by Katherine Wilkinson
Music Arrangement by Lila Blue
Dramaturgy by Elizagrace Madrone
An hour-long cabaret performed in German, starring Gregor Samsa from Kakfa’s The Metamorphosis reimagined as a queer clown.
Developed and shared at ArsNova ANT Fest (2025), Bushwick Starr Reading Series (2024), New Georges Audrey Residency (2023-24), The Brick New Works Fest (2023), and through a NYSCA Commission.
Dirty Denim
Music & Lyrics by Lila Blue
Book by Ben Holbrook
Directed & Developed by Katherine Wilkinson
Dirty Denim is a new folk queer-utopia musical about the true(ish) story of 12 young women in Springfield, Missouri, who discovered and explored one of the world's largest and most terrifying underground cave systems.
OVUM
Book & Music Arrangement by Lila Blue
A body-horror dark comedy about the unsettling and dehumanizing worlds of reproductive health and caregiving, scored by Celtic traditional music.
Image by Sarah Duyer
Untitled Parkinson’s Project
Created by Lila Blue in collaboration with Bradley Coley
Drawing on interviews with my father and others affected by Parkinson’s, this project will explore the complexity of parent-child relationships, intergenerational trauma, and the impact of an incurable illness on both. Working with a band of musicians who have PD, we will build a score that’s accessible for them to play, relying heavily on tremolo – a music technique that creates a wavering, unsteady sound. Our first development workshop will take place in 2026.