The New York Premiere: September 12 - October 11, 2025
THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL
a new play with old music
Written by SHERRY STREGACK LUTKEN, LISA HELMI JOHANSON, MORGAN MORSE, and DAVID M. LUTKEN.
Conceived and Directed by SHERRY STREGACK LUTKEN.
Starring TORA NOGAMI ALEXANDER, DAVID M. LUTKEN, and MORGAN MORSE.
“Begin[ning] with edges jagged enough to draw blood,
they end like sea glass, polished into a rough beauty.” – Chicago Sun-Times
“The Porch on Windy Hill has its hands on the wheel of
something that’s real. It is powerful theater.” – Manchester Journal
“A musical treat to the ear and a soulful treat to the heart.” – Evanston RoundTable
The Porch on Windy Hill blends Appalachian, Old Time and Bluegrass songs with a deeply personal, contemporary story of discovery and reconciliation. The show follows Mira, a biracial Korean American classical violinist, and her folk-song-collector boyfriend Beckett as they escape pandemic isolation in Brooklyn and journey to the mountains of western North Carolina. When they unexpectedly reconnect with Mira’s estranged grandfather, Edgar, they uncover a tangled legacy of love, loss, and music—and discover the unforeseen harmony that can arise when generations and genres collide.
-
September 12 - October 11, 2025
Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri | 7pm.
Sat | 3pm & 7pm
Sun | 3pm
(No Show Tues)General Admissions: $40
Previews (Sep 12-17) : $30
Opening Night (Sep 18): $50, includes champagne reception
Patrons’ Night (Sep 24): $180, includes cocktails and dinner at nearby restaurant after the show. -
Opening Night (Sep 18): $50, includes champagne reception
Patrons’ Night (Sep 24): $170, includes cocktails and dinner at nearby restaurant after the show.More Special Events and Talkbacks Coming Soon!!!
-
Developed during the pandemic by its director and original team of actor-musicians: Sherry Stregack Lutken, Lisa Helmi Johanson, Morgan Morse and David Lutken, The Porch on Windy Hill premiered at Ivoryton Playhouse in Connecticut in 2021, where it received four CT Critics’ Circle Nominations, including Outstanding Director (Sherry Lutken), Outstanding Actor in a musical (David M. Lutken), Outstanding Actress in a musical (Lisa Helmi Johanson), and Best Ensemble. The show has since traveled across the country, with acclaimed productions at Northlight Theatre in Chicago, Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Massachusetts, Weston Theater Company in Vermont, and People’s Light in Pennsylvania. Each production has deepened the play’s unique blend of Appalachian music and the multi-generational tale of a family broken by intolerance and ignorance, uncovering the hope of redemption and understanding.
-
SHERRY STREGACK LUTKEN (Co-writer/ Director) directed the world premiere of The Porch on Windy Hill at the Ivoryton Playhouse. Her Off-Broadway and regional directing and choreography credits include The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Million Dollar Quartet, Almost Heaven, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Stand By Your Man, Stars in Your Eyes, Pump Boys and Dinettes, Hopscotch, and Anything Goes. In 2009, she directed the first regional theater production of Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash at North Carolina’s Flat Rock Playhouse, and has since staged many productions of the show across the U.S. and abroad, including at Vienna’s English Theatre and Munich’s Deutsches Theater. As Associate Director of Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, she has set productions in Chicago (Joseph Jefferson Award nomination), Washington D.C. (Helen Hayes Award nomination), Florida, Pennsylvania, and the show’s first national U.K. tour.
LISA HELMI JOHANSON (Co-writer)is a multi-hyphinate who has a passion for developing new works and pursuing intentionality in representation to further the work of racial justice and social equity. Broadway: POTUS Select Off-Broadway/NYC: DRAG: The Musical, Avenue Q, Einstein’s Dreams (OC), The Drowning Girls, Rescue Rue (OC). Tours: Fiasco’s Into the Woods, Avenue Q. Select Regional: Anything Goes (Arena Stage), Vietgone (Denver Center), The Chinese Lady (Milwaukee Rep; Best Actress award – Milwaukee Broadwayworld), Amadeus (Syracuse Stage), Once (Cape Playhouse), Waterfall (5th Avenue Theatre & Pasadena Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre), 4,000 Miles (St. Louis Rep.). Film/TV: “Law & Order,” “A Holiday Spectacular” (Hallmark Channel), “Law & Order: SVU.” As a playwright, Lisa has co-written Kim Loo Gets a Redo,The Porch on Windy Hill, and was a semi-finalist with the O'Neill Musical Theater Conference with a new musical in development called Zitkala Sa's Astonishing Wild West with collaborator Lizzie Hagstedt. Also in development with collaborator Drayton Alexander is: Aygoo, Jinjja / Oh my God, Really? @hurricanhelmi
MORGAN MORSE (Co-writer/ performer) is an actor, musician, and writer originally from Connecticut. Theatre credits include Southern Comfort (The Public Theater), Once (Cape Playhouse, Ivoryton Playhouse, Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Bright Star (Arrow Rock Lyceum), Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Ivoryton Playhouse), Almost Heaven: John Denver's America (Weston Playhouse, Riverside Theatre) Hester Street (Theater J), and Ring of Fire (venues from Houston, TX to Vienna, Austria). In 2020, he began creating music and comedy content online, gaining a following on TikTok and Instagram (@themorsecoda on both). He also writes and performs original non-comedy music! More info at morganmorse.com.
DAVID M. LUTKEN (Co-writer, performer, and music director) is an award-winning actor and musician whose Broadway credits include Inherit the Wind, Ring of Fire, The Civil War, and The Will Rogers Follies. He performed the role of The Balladeer in Benjamin Britten’s opera Paul Bunyan at Lincoln Center, and has appeared Off-Broadway in Woody Sez, Southern Comfort, Stars in Your Eyes, Winter Man, and The Portable Pioneer and Prairie Show. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Cooper Union, 92nd Street Y, the Ryman Auditorium, and has been featured on "NPR", "Voice of America", "BBC", "ORF" (Austria), "Polskie Radio Troika" (Warsaw), and "The Louisiana Hayride". David devised the critically acclaimed Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie, which has toured extensively throughout the U.S., the U.K., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, earning numerous accolades including the Edinburgh Fringe Critic’s Pick, Brighton Festival Argus Angel Award (Best Musical), Joseph Jefferson and Helen Hayes Awards (Best Actor), and nominations from the London Evening Standard, Off-Broadway Alliance, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League.
TORA NOGAMI ALEXANDER: toraalexander.com/about-tora
Andrew Robinson (Scenic Designer), John Salutz (Lighting Designer), Sun Hee Kil (Sound Designer), Grace Jeon (Costume Designer) and Leigh Selting (Production Stage Manager).