Bucket list trip evolves into much more in world premiere play with music.
Streaming May 21 - June 1
Amy Engelhardt (Bastard Jones, Grammy-nominated band The Bobs) will premiere her new play, IMPACT, in a co-production with Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre, The Playhouse at White Lake and DimlyWit Productions (The Last Five Years). Filmed entirely at the historical Playhouse at White Lake’s newly renovated theatre venue, the performance will be available to stream online May 21 - June 1. Sliding scale tickets can be purchased at https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/51808. For more information visit www.thecelltheatre.org.
IMPACT tells the story of a chain of remarkable "follow-signs'' that lead Amy to Lockerbie, Scotland shortly after the 30th Anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. What starts out as a bucket-list trip quietly evolves into a personal and global exploration of grace, kindness and simplicity.
AMY ENGELHARDT (playwright and performer) wrote the score for Off-Broadway Alliance Best New Musical nominee Bastard Jones. Other credits include Triptych (book/music/lyrics, New York Transit Museum Commission), lyrics for adaptations of Carl Sagan's Contact (2009 Puget Sound Theatre Award), Tesla (New Musicals Foundation) and music/lyrics for A Comedy of Eras (with the Flying Karamazov Brothers). Amy received the Burman Award for Songwriting from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) and co-created Tune In Time, New York’s Musical Theater Game Show (“cerebral fun & games… the BMI Musical Theatre workshop on steroids” – Stage Buddy) at the York Theatre. From 1998-2012, Amy recorded 4 albums and toured the US and Europe as sole female vocalist/writer for Grammy-nominated, genre-busting vocal band The Bobs. And as Mother Superior of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl in Amazon Prime’s Good Omens promo campaign, Amy led a gaggle of rock-belting, flashmobbing nuns at series events in London, New York, LA and Austin’s South by Southwest - then produced their EP Unholy Night for Amazon Music. A proud member of ASCAP, SAG, the Dramatists Guild, Maestra and the Facebook “I Hate Cilantro” group, Amy swears that her second solo album, Finish What You, delayed Twice now, will still be released in 2020. www.amyengelhardt.com
NANCY MANOCHERIAN'S THE CELL THEATRE (Artistic Director Kira Simring) is a not-for-profit dedicated to the incubation and presentation of new works that mine the mind, pierce the heart, and awaken the soul. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the cell has successfully provided virtual offerings to New York and international audiences by streaming concerts and programming such as the serial Tolerance Party (Time Out New York “Best Theater to Stream this Week”), the Room | to | Breathe series with Bright Shiny Things, theBrave New World Series with Tribeca New Music, Nourishment "Bites'' with HOLDTIGHT, Apex Sky and Liquidverse. Recently the cell has opened its doors to present a season of visual art exhibitions including Rachel Rampleman’s Life Is Drag, Dark Matter Immersive’s Garden of Eden (New York Times “7 Things to do This Weekend), Chaney Trotter’s Treasures and Tremors, and Sbastien Aurillon’s Celestial Cities. For the 2021 season the cell will begin in-person performances including Persou conceived by One Whale’s Tale, Pickup Chamber Music curated by Janey Choi, What Keeps You Going? conceived and performed by HOLDTIGHT, and Hoard co-produced with Pittsburgh based company Off The Wall. Past productions include Found, The Pink Unicorn (starring Alice Ripley co-produced with Out of the Box), The Evolution of Mann (starring Max Crumm), Marc Acito and Amy Engelhardt’s Bastard Jones (Drama-Desk Nominated), Honor Molloy’s Crackskull Row (NY Times Critic’s Pick), Larry Kirwan’s Hard Times: An American Musical (NY Times Critic’s Pick) now entitled Paradise Square, Seamus Scanlon’s The McGowan Trilogy, Nancy Manocherian’sHey Jude, Jenny Rachel Weiner’s Horse Girls and more. www.thecelltheatre.org @thecelltheatre
THE PLAYHOUSE AT WHITE LAKE (Co-Producer) The Historic Playhouse at White Lake has been in almost constant operation since its opening in 1916. In 2019 the Playhouse completed a nearly two year, $4M project of renovation and expansion. The 7,000 square foot expansion includes a new box office and concessions, large accessible bathrooms, a 1,500 square foot lobby, rehearsal space and dressing rooms. With patron comfort in mind, the heating and cooling systems have been upgraded to high-efficiency units allowing for year-round programming. .Since opening in 1916, the theatre has had many different names including Whitehall’s Community Theatre, the Nufer-Adams Theatre, in the ‘50s and early ‘60s it was known simply as The Playhouse. Following the last renovation in 1973, the theatre was re-named The Howmet Playhouse in recognition of Howmet Corporation’s financial support of the community’s fundraising campaign. When the Playhouse reopened in June 2019, it did so with a new name: The Playhouse at White Lake. The original architects embraced the craftsman style and we are carrying on that feel both inside and out. We strive to present music and plays that expand our view of the world and brings us closer together as a community.
DIMLYWIT PRODUCTIONS (Production Design/Co-Producer) is a multimedia production company founded by independent producers, for independent producers, as a means of pooling together resources and creating captivating productions. DimlyWit works with people, and companies, from all walks of life to create productions that best serve them, and their communities. They offer various services, ranging through all stages of the production process, and specializing in comedy, podcasts, and mistakes. DimlyWit.co