We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time Added to the Public's Season

The Public Theater will present the New York premiere of We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time in the Public's Anspacher Theater on June 13 with a Joseph Papp Free Preview and run through July 14. The official press opening will take place on June 27. Written and performed by David Cale, and featuring music cowritten with Matthew Dean Marsh, the musical memoir is directed by Robert Falls, in a coproduction with Goodman Theatre.

The autobiographical show is described as follows: "Growing up, writer/performer David Cale escaped his parents' fraught marriage by singing in his bedroom and tending to birds in his backyard animal hospital. Lush songs, featuring a six-piece orchestra, and an intimate portrait of his mother unite in Cale's vivid musical memoir of hope, family, and transcendence."

We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time features scenic design by Kevin Depinet, costume design by Paul Marlow, lighting design by Jennifer Tipton, sound design by Mikhail Fiksel, and arrangements and music direction by Matthew Dean Marsh.