Dear Father

A bittersweet new musical exploring grief, faith, love, and friendship through the life of C.S. Lewis.

This show follows two timelines. In the first, a younger Lewis — known to his friends as Jack — is a lifelong bachelor and member of the eccentric English intellectual group “The Inklings.” Jack grows into an authoritative religious thinker and falls into an unorthodox marriage with the pragmatic American author Joy Davidman. In the second, an older Lewis turns to writing as his entire worldview is thrown into disarray following Joy’s death.

The show examines Lewis’s complicated real-life relationships with his brother, Warnie, and his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien, whose devout faith puts him at odds with Jack’s choices. It asks what it means to have faith in a seemingly meaningless world — a question that ultimately reshapes not just Jack’s life, but the family Joy leaves behind.

Musically, it spans pop-rock, jazz, comedic vaudeville, collegiate a cappella, liturgical choral, and more.

Poster art by Yala Feikin ‘28