On a Saturday afternoon in March, Kathryn Gallagher sits on a folding chair. A black electric guitar on her lap plugged into a single amp beside her, as she takes in the room full of people. Every chair in the room is full, and audience members spill onto the floor, standing pressed against the wall. The small Bushwick art gallery is full to busting with people waiting in anticipation for Gallagher’s powerful voice to fill in what little space there is left. Her gamble on the support of her followers paid off.
Photo by Mary Murray
A week ago, songwriter and Broadway actress Kathryn Gallagher had no show. The Broadway run of Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, which starred both hearing and deaf actors, and in which she played Voice of Martha, had closed at the end of January and venues that would admit her teenage fan base were proving hard to come by. However, what she did have was a dedicated group of fans. Five days and some creative planning later, she found the Living Gallery in Brooklyn and decided to put on her own show, not knowing whether it would be five people or 50 who would show up.
photo by Mary Murray
“You know, going from doing a Broadway show, I didn’t necessarily expect any of that sort of fandom to translate over, or for people to listen to my music,” Gallagher admitted. “I could have only kind of hoped. To see so many familiar faces from the Spring Awakening stage door and that community, I realized how much I really wanted to make that available to every fan.”
The issue Gallagher had been facing, she explained, was not that she couldn’t find venues to suit her shows, but rather that many of her fans were underage and couldn’t get in.
“I just got so frustrated,” she told me. “So, I went on the internet and there’s literally a website where you just find empty spaces and this was open, I could afford it, and so I just was like, literally five days ago, I’m just doing it.”
For Gallagher, the bottom line became, “If no one is going to let me do this, I’m gonna do it myself.” Which we agreed, may just be her life motto.
Photo by Mary Murray
Gallagher may have only recently made her Broadway debut, but she’s been writing songs and performing since she was 13.
“Right now, I love big sounds and small stories. So when you can have a small story with a big sound, that's what really thrills me in music. I always start with a thing I have to say,” she explained. “I always come from the story point of view. I’m a really sort of confessional writer I think, and for me there’s so much freedom in being honest and specific.”
Photo by Cece Charendoff
When asked how her experiences with Broadway and songwriting differed, she said, “since Spring Awakening started I’ve kind of put my music on the back burner just ‘cause doing a show is very hard, as I’ve learned. It’s really interesting, doing music is such a solitary thing, it’s generally a thing that I do at 7 am, in my room writing in a journal. Spring Awakening was something I got to do with my best friends, everyday.”
Although the show was a life changing and unquestionably positive experience for Gallagher, it wasn’t without it’s challenges. She was given the role of dance captain and was required to play guitar at a level she had never aspired to before.
“Spring Awakening, if I had really understood what the assignment was when I was first given it, I would have been like I’m not qualified. But I never thought that, maybe because I never really understood," Gallagher said. "But it kinda was that thing where I jumped in, I jumped before I looked, and this time it ended up really well.”
Gallagher and the Spring Awakening Cast via deafawakeningbroadway
Given the sense of community that surrounded the gallery show, I asked her if she felt a responsibility for her fans.
“I want to be the kind of person that would have helped me out when I was younger,” she answered. “In the way that I look and I speak and I dress, and what I say, and those things do carry so much weight. Of course we all only have a responsibility to ourselves, but if by me treating myself and doing the things I want, saying the things I want, being the person I want to be, if that helps encourage someone else to do that, then I think that’s wonderful.”
And then added, “The fact that there are people in the world that are also interested in the same things that I’m interested in, that’s the most touching thing in the world. It’s interesting because if there are people that are connecting to these songs that are essentially my diary, then I think I probably have a lot in common with these people.”
Photo via Twitter
She does, if her show and its aftermath are any evidence. Gallagher, along with one-man support team and fellow Spring Awakening cast member, Alex Wyse, stayed for nearly an hour after the show to take pictures and talk. If her drive, her talent, and her genuine love for her fans doesn’t make it clear already, you should be on the lookout for Kathryn Gallagher.
