MAGPIE’S SONG: A THOUGHTFUL AND ORIGINAL PRODUCTION AT LCP

By Julia Doerr

Magpie’s Song, Lincoln Community Playhouse, Saturday February 14, 2026

Entering LCP’s Studio Theatre to choose my seat for Saturday’s performance of Magpie’s Song, I was struck by the beautiful and unique design of the set, with the audience seated on risers on three sides of a swirl-shaped stage. The room is decorated on all sides with hangings of Chinese-inspired landscape paintings embossed with the leafy branches of trees. From the ceiling hang 10 paper lanterns. The effect is the sensation of being immersed in the environment of this play’s theatrical world along with the cast. Kudos for this to Scenic Designer Douglas Clarke and Lighting Designer Reece McAdams.

Magpie’s Song is billed as “an original musical” written and composed by Lincoln native Zeph Siebler. It premiered at Yale University in 2025, and this is the first production outside of Yale. The current cast of eight, including some young actors in their debut LCP performances and at least one LCP Legend, works together seamlessly to tell three distinct stories inspired by Chinese folk tales. The play is operatic, meaning that the entire script is sung, and is performed without intermission in 90-100 minutes. A live instrumental quartet accompanies.

A rather fun conceit of the play is that a couple of audience members are asked to choose in what order the three stories will be performed, so that on different days, the audience might experience things a bit differently. On Saturday, we began with a “monster story,” progressed to a “war story,” and finished (appropriately for Valentine’s Day) with a “love story.” Magpie, played by Penelope Larson, serves in a narrative role, guiding the progress through the three stories. 

In the monster story, an artist tries to depict a disastrous event—a terrible fire in her village—as a painting. She must choose what and whom include and interestingly decides to add a beast from the nearby hills to the mix. It’s a thoughtful look at artistic choices. 

In the war story, the 10 paper lanterns become 10 suns whose heat and light make life rather miserable in a drought-parched land where workers toil in endless daily repetition of mundane routine. The focus is on a retired archer and his sick wife, played poignantly by BJ Montague and that LCP Legend, Karen Freimund Wills. Into their lives comes an angry young man (Alex Rownd) who begs to become the archer’s apprentice, wanting to learn the warlike art of archery so that he can destroy the suns that are oppressing his world. The interplay between the older and younger archers was a highlight of this show for me. The archer’s wife persuades her husband to preserve one of the suns, and the consequences are complicated and ambiguous.

Finally, the love story involves a mortal with a supernatural being. The lovers are played by Quentin Hanzlik and Hannah Joy Menoc who share companionship and teach each other the wonders of the earth and the heavens. They must deal with the disapproval of her powerful father. Seems like one of those universal tales that we find in many cultures. The resolution of this version is not tragic, but there may be disagreement about how satisfying it is.

Thematically, the ending of the play focuses on the power and universality of storytelling. “Stories listen,” says Magpie, “And though seasons come and seasons go, the stories stay.”

Overall, this is a lovely and well-acted production of a unique work with interesting themes. It is worth your time.

If you go: Magpie’s Song runs February 13-22, 2026. Ticket information at: https://www.lincolnplayhouse.com/.

Lincoln Community Playhouse
2500 S 56th Street
P.O. Box 6426
Lincoln, NE 68506
402-489-7529

Julia Doerr is a retired high school English teacher with a lifelong love of theatre.

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