Depresh Mode

A performer sings at a microphone with a guitarist, pianist, and tinsel backdrop, facing an audience

Staged Reading, Evolution Festival at the Center at West Park, 2024

The stakes are high and the serotonin is low in this one-act musical about a medical startup testing its groundbreaking new antidepressant, Enditol. But there’s only one spot left in the clinical trial—how will they decide their last test subject? A song contest, of course. Follow eight contestants and their intrepid host on their journey toward mental health, high notes, and one very big pharmaceutical crown.

  • Original Concept by Elise Wien

    Composed by Liza Couser

    Lyrics by Elise Wien, J.C. Pankratz, and Liza Couser

    Book by Elise Wien and J.C. Pankratz

    Directed by Liza Couser

    Music Direction by Sarah Quinn

    Guitar Arrangements by Graham Rigby

    Featuring Robert Leverett, Zahra Ruffin, Elyse Steingold, Tora Toyohara, Ema Zivkovic

    Piano Sarah Quinn

    Guitar Justin Choi

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Select Demos

Enditol
Music by Liza Couser, Lyrics by Elise Wien & J.C. Pankratz
DMs Song
Music by Liza Couser, Lyrics by Elise Wien & J.C. Pankratz
Roy G. Biv
Music by Liza Couser, Lyrics by J.C. Pankratz and Elise Wien
Book Club
Music by Liza Couser, Lyrics by Liza Couser, Elise Wien, & J.C. Pankratz
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