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Identical twin transgender women, Murphy Taylor and Emerson Mae Smith are well versed in idiosyncrasy. Returning to Feinstein’s/54 Below after their solo show debut last August, they invite you to gather in the cold light of the new year for stories of violence and vengeance, guides on romancing your local spirit, and dealing with relatives deadnaming you on Christmas Eve.

Murphy is a NEO award-winning composer/lyricist whose work has been featured in the Women of the Wings and Writers Launch concert series. Emerson, the playwright half of the twin-hood, created her one woman show Watchdog, as well as the post apocalyptic horror play Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm? Together they wrote the musical Elektric, a trans woman-centered adaptation of the Elektra tragedy and Radio, a short musical horror film about an affected young woman’s relationship with the ghost haunting her gym.

Murphy and Emerson create dark, haunted worlds with their words and music, which echo the dark haunted world we live in today. Join them and some special guests to find hope and beauty within that darkness.

MAY 31ST @ 9:30 BUY TICKETS TODAY

Iconis, known for his catchy, contemporary scores, penned the song “Masochist” for Kitty with a specific vision in mind.

“I’ve seen so many pieces of art where a trans character is either the comic relief or functions as some angelic, wisdom-spewing symbol. With Kitty, I wanted to make a trans character who was funny and human and took no shit. I didn’t want to write a song that everyone sings about her; I wanted her to be the center of her own moment and to be the one who delivers the message of the show.”

Lifting the song off the page in the 2019 world premiere Two River Theater production and the original cast recording is powerhouse vocalist Emerson Mae Smith.

Joe Iconis' Love in Hate Nation released a cast recording via Ghostlight Records February 11 featuring the cast of the musical's 2019 world premiere at New Jersey's Two River Theater, which included Sydney Farley, Amina Faye, Jasmine Forsberg, Lauren Marcus, Kelly McIntyre, Lena Skeele, Emerson Mae Smith, Ryan Vona, and Tatiana Wechsler.

Iconis takes us through the songs, artists, and stories behind Love in Hate Nation in this exclusive track-by-track breakdown:

Murphy Taylor Smith played Kitty in our workshop production at Penn State and her identical twin sister Emerson Mae Smith played Kitty at Two River. Can you even? The Smith Twins are impossibly talented actor-singers, but they are also really stunning musical theatre writers. I saw them perform their own arrangement of “Masochist” at a Feinstein’s/54 Below concert and I knew we needed to include it on the album.

I’ve spoken about how all of the actors who have touched these roles are woven into the fabric of them, so it feels only right to have Murphy be on the album, spiritually repping every actor who has been a part of the journey.