Gaelynn Lea — It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect: An Author Talk & Songs

Gaelynn Lea — It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect: An Author Talk & Songs
Join Gaelynn Lea for an intimate evening centered on her forthcoming memoir, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect (Algonquin, April 14, 2026). In conversation with Andres (Andy) Verzosa, Gaelynn will read and discuss the book’s two-thread narrative — the lived experience and politics of disability alongside the craft and practice of making music — and reflect candidly on childhood theatre, medical and pandemic experience, and the work of a creative life. This program marks Gaelynn’s third visit to the Stanley-Whitman House.

Format & what to expect. The evening begins with a moderated conversation and reading, followed by a focused musical performance and time for audience Q&A. The format is intimate and designed to create a direct connection between artist and audience. Doors open at 6:30 PM; the program begins at 7:00 PM.

Books, tickets & support. Signed copies of It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect will be available in the museum store after the program. You may reserve one to pay for and collect at the museum the night of the event. Registration is required; this is a free event but donation are welcome to support museum programs. This event is partially underwritten; leadership giving options are available (limited) to support an accessible program.

Health & accessibility. Masks are required indoors. If you cannot wear a mask for medical reasons, contact in advance so we can accommodate you. This show will be ASL-interpreted, and the venue is wheelchair accessible. For additional accommodations (assisted listening, large-print materials, scent-sensitive seating), please email at least 72 hours ahead.

Run of show:

• 6:30 PM — Doors
• 7:00 PM — Welcome/Introduction Andy Verzosa
• 7:05–8:00 PM — Conversation / reading with Gaelynn Lea
• 8:00–8:30 PM — Musical performance
• 8:30–8:40 PM — Closing remarks
• 8:40–9:00 PM — Book sales / signing

For questions about tickets, book reservations, or accessibility, contact . We look forward to welcoming you.

Gaelynn Lea is a violinist, singer-songwriter, composer, disability-rights advocate, and author. She came to wide attention after winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016 and has since toured nationally and internationally, collaborating with artists including Michael Stipe, The Decemberists, Wilco, and Pigface. In 2022 she composed the original score for Sam Gold’s Broadway production of Macbeth; the theatrically inspired album Music From Macbeth was released in May 2025 and supported a U.K. album-release tour. Gaelynn co-founded RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) to advance touring and venue accessibility, and in 2024 she was named a Disability Futures Fellow by the Ford and Mellon Foundations. She serves as a Governor of the Recording Academy’s Chicago Chapter and has appeared on PBS NewsHour, On Being, The Moth Radio Hour, and in TEDx talks. Her debut memoir, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect (Algonquin), will be published April 14, 2026.

The Stanley-Whitman House is a National Historic Landmark and living-history museum in Farmington, Connecticut, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history and culture of 17th–19th-century Farmington. The House’s mission remains primary: to steward material culture and local memory with professional standards of collections care and scholarship. To make that history vital to contemporary civic life, the museum pairs rigorous humanities research with artist-centered interpretation.

Under this approach the museum produces signature initiatives that bridge scholarship and community. The barrier-free Music in the Tavern series removes stage separation to create intimate, accessible encounters; the Tunxis Land & Water Memory Tour centers Indigenous and landscape histories; and the Charlotte Henry Initiative and Witness Stones partnership foreground Tunxis histories and the lives of African-descended peoples—enslaved and free—who shaped Farmington’s past. The museum commissions and produces original theatre (most recently The Last Night) and stages artist interventions—site-specific exhibitions, temporary installations, and collaborative projects that respond directly to the House’s architecture, objects, and archives. Recent interventions include Motif: Museum as Studio (2024), Indigo (2023), and Embracing Strange (2021). These projects grow from curatorial research, are produced with conservation safeguards, and invite new interpretive frames that deepen public understanding and generate scholarship.

Andy is Executive Director & Curator of the Stanley-Whitman House. Since 2018 he has led an artist-forward rethinking of the House—commissioning research-led artist interventions and original theatre (including The Last Night), editing and publishing Memento Mori, launching The Journal of Farmington History, and developing place-based initiatives such as the Tunxis Land & Water Memory Tour. He programs the barrier-free Music in the Tavern series, which intentionally removes stage separation to cultivate direct, accessible encounters between performers and audiences. Andy first welcomed Gaelynn Lea to the House in 2018 and 2019; tonight he serves as Gaelynn’s Conversation Partner, supporting her presentation and guiding a short conversation that centers her writing and music. For program or accessibility questions, contact .

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