{"id":32110,"date":"2026-04-09T06:48:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=32110"},"modified":"2026-04-09T06:52:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:52:22","slug":"on-stage-elizabeth-the-catapult-come-to-world-cafe-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=32110","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Elizabeth & The Catapult come to World Cafe Live"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/div>\n
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Elizabeth Ziman<\/p><\/div>\n

A lot of people know Elizabeth Ziman — via a lot of different ways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She is an acclaimed composer in a variety of music styles, including scores for several international award-winning documentaries such as \u201cTrapped,\u201d a Peabody winner.<\/div>\n
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She is an award-winning classical pianist who has studied at Boston\u2019s world renowned Berklee College of Music — and she has conducted a women\u2019s choir.<\/div>\n
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She won an Independent Music Award for Songwriting, and her songs have been featured in national television campaigns for Google and Amazon.<\/div>\n
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However, the majority of people who know Elizabeth Ziman know her as the Elizabeth in the talented Brooklyn-based band Elizabeth & The Catapult.<\/div>\n

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The band, which has been around for more than two decades, just released its sixth album, \u201cResponsible Friend\u201d on April 3 on Compass Records.<\/div>\n
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Elizabeth & The Catapult are now out on an album support tour \u2013 a tour that brings them to the area on April 11 for a show at <\/a><\/a>World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, www.worldcafelive.com<\/a>).<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe seeds of this album go back to when I was working with Jon Titterington four years ago on \u201950-50,\u2019 my last album,\u201d said Ziman, during as phone interview last week from her home in Brooklyn.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI wanted to encapsulate all the relationships in my life and what\u2019s going on.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI wanted to look at the suffering people are going through — not the loss but how we process the pain.<\/div>\n
\u201cWriting this album was a coping mechanism.\u201d<\/div>\n
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While this might sound like a very introspective album that dwells on Ziman\u2019s personal paths through life \u2013 and it is \u2013 it is also a collection of songs which listeners can relate to and apply to their own lives.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI wanted to write about how to slow down and accept the challenges,\u201d said Ziman.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI wanted to make record about how to show up for life \u2013 show up for everyone and show up for yourself.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Ziman is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn who has worked with Blake Mills, Esperanza Spalding, Gillian Welch, Sara Bareilles and Ben Folds.<\/div>\n
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\u201cTogether Alone,\u201d a song from her last record, made it onto NPR\u2019s All Songs Considered \u201c10 best songs of 2021\u201d list.<\/div>\n
Ziman attended Berklee on scholarship to study classical composition and was awarded the 2001\u00a0ASCAP\u00a0Leiber and Stoller\u00a0scholarship for her song \u201cLike Water is to Sand.\u201d<\/div>\n
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In 2002, she changed directions.<\/div>\n
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Patti Austin\u00a0came to Berklee to recruit background vocalists for an\u00a0Ella Fitzgerald\u00a0tribute tour.<\/div>\n
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Ziman got the gig and put her plans for scoring films on the back burner.<\/div>\n
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She toured with Austin for 18 months.<\/div>\n
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Around the same time, she formed the original Elizabeth & The Catapult with drummer Dan Molad and guitarist Pete Lalish. After Ziman and Molad completed their studies, the band moved to\u00a0Brooklyn\u00a0in early 2005\u2019<\/div>\n
The two Berklee students later were co-founders of the band Lucius in 2007.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI met my band at Berklee,\u201d said Ziman. \u201cNow 20 years later, I\u2019m still working with them. It\u2019s a big deal.<\/div>\n
\u201cI worked with Danny and Phil on my last record \u2013 Danny on drums and guitar and Pete on guitar. We also had Adam Minkhoff who played everything \u2013 drums, bass, guitar, vocals.\u201d<\/div>\n
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In the album\u2019s liner notes, Minkhoff was billed as \u201cGeneral Director, Artistic Oracle, Stormwarden of Logistics.\u201d<\/div>\n
In October 2006, Elizabeth & The Catapult were the featured\u00a0Billboard\u00a0Underground Artist following the release of their first record, a\u00a0self-titled EP. They signed with Verve Records in 2008 and produced their debut album, \u201cTaller Children.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Lalish left the group in 2009, after which Ziman and Molad worked as a duo with various collaborators on a second album,\u00a0\u201cThe Other Side of Zero.\u201d<\/div>\n
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From then on, Elizabeth & The Catapult has been largely a solo project — with frequent collaborators including Molad and Lalish.<\/div>\n
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Ziman split with Verve and, in 2014, released\u00a0\u201cLike It Never Happened\u201d\u00a0on Scratchback\/Thirty Tigers.<\/div>\n
In 2017, she signed with Compass Records and released her fourth album, \u201cKeepsake.\u201d<\/div>\n
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ziman recorded and produced her fifth LP, \u201csincerely e\u201d\u00a0in her home studio.<\/div>\n
Music and home life have been Ziman\u2019s companions for most of her time on earth.<\/div>\n
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\u201cSupposedly, I sang before I spoke,\u201d said Ziman. \u201cWe had a musical family. My brother played Suzuki violin, and I was in the Young People\u2019s Choir of New York.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI took classical piano lessons and studied intensively as a kid. Later, I studied piano again \u2013 composing at Berklee. And then I met my band.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Video link for Elizabeth & The Catapult \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/w0lirIkWerQ?si=4Y_qFO5MujVbkUse<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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The show at World Caf\u00e9 Live on April 11 will start at 8 p.m.<\/div>\n
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Tickets are $22.<\/div>\n
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The award-winning solo play, \u201cUNRECONCILED,\u201d (www.unreconciledtheplay.com<\/a>)\u00a0will return to Pennsylvania this April for a powerful two-week, three-city tour in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month.<\/div>\n
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Jay Sefton<\/p><\/div>\n

The tour supports legislation introduced by Representative Nate Davidson that would reform Pennsylvania\u2019s statute of limitations and establish a retroactive two-year civil \u201clook-back\u201d window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cUNRECONCILED\u201d\u00a0is based on the true story of an adolescent actor cast as Jesus in a school play directed by a parish priest. The story chronicles a survivor\u2019s journey as he confronts his past, navigates a victims\u2019 reparations program set up by the Catholic Church, and discovers the courage to use his voice.<\/div>\n
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This 80-minute piece is a\u00a0poignant and at times humorous exploration of family, place, and the meaning of reconciliation.<\/div>\n
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The first-person story is written by Jay Sefton (along with Mark Basquill) and performed by Sefton.<\/div>\n
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The tour will open at Barley Sheaf Players (810 North Whitford Road, Lionville, www.barleysheaf.org\/unreconciled<\/a>) on April 10 at 7:30 p.m.<\/div>\n
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There will be a moderated post-show discussion with retired West Chester University theatre professor Jane Saddoris.<\/div>\n
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Additionally, representatives from the Crime Victims\u2019 Center of Chester County will be on hand to support survivors and families.<\/div>\n
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The show at Barley Sheaf Players on April 10 will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25.<\/div>\n
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From April 15-19, the play will be performed at JD McGillicuddy\u2019s\u00a0Pub (33 Brookline Blvd., Havertown, \u00a0unreconciledprojectinc.ticketspice.com\/unreconciled<\/a>) from April 15-19 with performances Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.<\/div>\n
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The tour will culminate April 22 at Gamut Theatre Group in Harrisburg, just steps from the Pennsylvania Capitol, the evening prior to anticipated Senate action on the bill. The timing underscores a pivotal moment for survivors and lawmakers alike.<\/div>\n
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Video link for \u201cUNRECONCILED\u201d — https:\/\/vimeo.com\/961145887?fl=pl&fe=cm<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein\u201d is running now through April 19 at the Candlelight Theater (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware,\u00a0candlelighttheatredelaware.org<\/a>).<\/div>\n
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The show is a Mel Brooks Broadway musical based on the movie \u201cYoung Frankenstein,\u201d a 1974 comedy film written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.<\/div>\n
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Described by Brooks as his best film, it is a parody of the horror film genre — especially the 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Mary Shelley\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein.\u201d<\/div>\n
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After the success of the movie, which has been named to the \u201cTop 50\u201d lists of comedy films by a number of organizations, Brooks teamed with Thomas Meehan to write and produce a stage version of the show.<\/div>\n
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The show tells the story of Frederick Frankenstein, a New York doctor who is ashamed to be a Frankenstein and insists his name be pronounced \u201cFronkensteen.\u201d<\/div>\n
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His grandfather Dr. Victor von Frankenstein, a mad scientist, passed away so the younger Frankenstein has to travel to Transylvania to settle the estate.<\/div>\n
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In Transylvania, Dr. Frankenstein becomes involved with a variety of zany characters including the hunchback Igor, the yodeling lab assistant Inga, the mysterious Frau Bl\u00fccher and, of course, The Monster.<\/div>\n
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The Candlelight Theater is presenting \u201cThe Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein\u201d now through April 19. Tickets, which include a tasty dinner, are $77.50 for adults and $35 for children (ages 4-12).<\/div>\n
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Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http:\/\/www.kennettflash.org<\/a>) is hosting its monthly Jazz Jam on April 9, The E-Block on April 10, \u201cMake Me An Angel \u2013 A Tribute to John Prine\u201d on April 11 and \u201cThe Legendary Kennett Flash Open Mic Night hosted by Michael Hahn\u201d on April 12.<\/div>\n
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Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org<\/a>) will host J2B2 on April 12.<\/div>\n
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Jamey\u2019s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, www.jameyshouseofmusic.com<\/a>) will host Ryan Hartt on April 10, Michael London & Friends on April 11 and the Girke-Davis Project featuring AC Steel on April 12.<\/div>\n
The Colonial Theatre (227 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, thecolonialtheatre.com\/events<\/a>) will host \u201cMike Doughty Solo Tour \u201926\u201d on April 10, \u201cBroken Arrow \u2013 The Music of Neil Young\u201d on April 11 and \u201cEddie Bruce: The Tony Bennett Centennial Celebration\u201d on April 12.<\/div>\n
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The Elkton Music Hall (107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, www.elktonmusichall.com<\/a>) will present Pink Talking Fish on April 9, AF2K on April 10, \u201cSabbath Supertzars: Tribute to Black Sabbath<\/a>\u201d on April 11 and Tinsley Ellis on April 15.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times A lot of people know Elizabeth Ziman — via a lot of different ways. She is an acclaimed composer in a variety of music styles, including scores for several international award-winning documentaries such as \u201cTrapped,\u201d a Peabody winner. She is an award-winning classical pianist who has studied at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12303,3162,12304],"class_list":["post-32110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","tag-elizabeth-the-catapult","tag-featured","tag-jay-sefton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32116,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32110\/revisions\/32116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}