VALLEY ADVOCATE - “a show about dying that’s rippling with life.” “The choral harmonies in particular are gorgeous.” “the most upbeat sad story I’ve seen in some time.”

“Blood & Water is a musical lovingly crafted from the titular stuff. It effortlessly melds memory and dramatization to capture the experience of four separate family members (two mothers, two daughters) as one of the parents is diagnosed and subsequently dies of cancer. Francesca Hansen-DiBello alchemically spins fun, charm, love, and grief together with the intimate production and achingly honest dialogue and music.”

Grief and love are inextricably intertwined, and I’m interested in the ways that these powerful emotions can pull us apart, or bring us closer together. In Blood & Water the family is unconventional, yet grounded in their love for each other. When the thread that ties them together is tugged away it exposes insecurities, and questions of belonging that are universal. As each character finds their way apart, and back together again we investigate what it means to be a family.

Blood & Water was workshopped in 2017 at The Kraine Theatre in New York City, and premiered with Viewpoint Theatre in Easthampton, MA June 2022.

Stream the Easthampton, MA production of Blood & Water here.

In August of 2020 I was asked to join The Workshop Theater’s Out of the Hat festival as a playwright, and I was delighted to accept. My play Golden Child was available to stream during the run of the festival.

In Golden Child two estranged siblings meet, discover the disparities in their lives, and mourn the relationship they never had.

Dead Mothers Club

In 2016 I released the album Dead Mothers Club with my band Francesca & the Hot Summer Nights. It was so much fun working with a band, and I’d love to do it again in the future. You can listen to my favorite track from Dead Mothers Club below, or click here for the full album!