NEW YORK, NY — This August, the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival at the AMT Theater will transform Midtown Manhattan into a clandestine corner of New Orleans’ historic Seventh Ward. One Night at the Blackbird, a gripping and soulful new play by Maria Messias Mendes and Thomas Mullen, introduces audiences to Old Scratch—a hidden speakeasy operating out of the back of a funeral home where the ghosts of music royalty never stopped playing.

But when Lucifer herself arrives to pull the plug on the sanctuary, the club’s manager faces a supernatural chess match to keep the music alive. Navigating the high stakes of this otherworldly jazz-and-blues underworld is a formidable creative team: visionary director Michael Hagins and playwright/producer Thomas Mullen.

Here is an inside look at how the director and production team are bringing this hauntingly soulful, strictly limited three-show engagement to life.

Humanizing Icons: Michael Hagins on Directing Legends

One of the production’s most thrilling—and challenging—dynamics is its star-studded supernatural roster. The play features powerhouse portrayals of monumental historical figures: Louis Armstrong (Xavier Rodney), Mahalia Jackson (Alexandria Thomas), and Allen Toussaint (Duane Ferguson), standing alongside the mortal desperation of Herman Godfrey (KC Simms) and the ultimate authority of Lucy (Aria Jackson).

For director Michael Hagins, the primary mission is to steer the ensemble away from mere caricature.

“You are managing massive, distinct historical personas alongside a high-stakes supernatural plot,” Hagins notes regarding the directorial approach. “How do you direct your actors so these legends feel like grounded, soulful characters with real skin in the game, rather than just musical impressions?”

By anchoring the performances in the immediate psychological stakes of the script—where these immortal souls face a second, permanent “final curtain call”—Hagins guides the cast to find the raw vulnerability behind the famous facades. The result is a performance style where the history is respected, but the human urgency takes center stage.

Staging the Seventh Ward in Midtown Manhattan

Bringing the heavy, humid atmosphere of a Louisiana underworld into a contemporary New York City theater space requires meticulous environmental storytelling. The setting of the Blackbird is a character in its own right—a sanctuary tucked inside an old funeral home that must feel simultaneously welcoming and haunting.

The creative team faces the unique challenge of utilizing the physical architecture of the AMT Theater to capture that distinct New Orleans vibe. Through a careful marriage of intimate staging, Kat Santomoreno’s costume design, and a calculated atmospheric design managed by Adam Sherwin (Lights & Sound) and Lauren Arneson (Assistant Stage Manager/Board), the production aims to make the audience feel as though they have stepped past a velvet rope into a completely different era and geography.

The Sprint of a Festival Run

Producing independent theater in New York City is always a high-wire act, but the structure of a festival presentation adds a layer of intense chronological pressure. One Night at the Blackbird has a strictly limited engagement of just three performances:

• Wednesday, August 12 at 8:00 p.m.
• Friday, August 14 at 5:00 p.m.
• Sunday, August 16 at 2:00 p.m.

With a compressed timeline, there is absolutely no room for a “warm-up” period.

“With a strictly limited three-show engagement at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival, there is no time to ‘warm up’ across a long run,” explains the production team. “How does this compressed schedule shift your approach to tech rehearsals and building immediate momentum from the very first cue?”

For producer Thomas Mullen and director Michael Hagins, this means tech rehearsals must be executed with surgical precision. Every cue must hit perfectly on night one, demanding a hyper-focused rehearsal process where the momentum is locked in long before the company arrives at 45th Street. Backed by the public relations strategy of Jay Michaels Global Communications, the team is treating the short run not as a limitation, but as an explosive, eventized theatrical sprint.

Production Fast Facts

• Playwrights: Maria Messias Mendes & Thomas Mullen
• Producer: Thomas Mullen
• Director: Michael Hagins
• Venue: AMT Theater, 354 W 45th St, New York, NY 10036
• Tickets: Available online via the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival / Ludus platform, or at the door on the day of the performance.

For media inquiries, interview requests with Michael Hagins and Thomas Mullen, or to request complimentary reviewer tickets, please contact Jay Michaels Global Communications.

“Are You Ready to Do Something Completely Brilliant?” – Nigel Gladstone

It’s 2014, and Nigel (Oliver Callahan) is looking to turn past glories into future ones. His band Fur Pajamas had a hit record with “I Can Feel It” in 1989, in the dying days of the New Wave genre before it gave way to grunge. The changing times and band member conflicts meant they split up before they could follow it up. Desperate to get back to the top (and namedropping Belinda Carlisle along the way), he arrives at Empire Music and the office of Andi Wilson (Rachel Croom), a brand-new young talent agent looking to make a name for herself. She only wants to license “I Can Feel It,” but Nigel hatches a bigger scheme: turn the Fur Pajamas album Gruesome Gardens into a jukebox musical for an upcoming competition. It’s going to be “a Jekyll and Hide for the 21^st Century”—to paraphrase the concept, it will be Gothic rampaging monsters meet obsessive teenage love. Andi is on board, but the deadline is in one week and Nigel must get the cooperation of his estranged bandmates: the bitter Peter (David Michael Kirby), and former bassist—and Nigel’s former girlfriend—Claudia (Ronda Christie), who’s about to sue Nigel for stealing her own words to craft the Fur Pajamas lyrics. Claudia had gone on to form the Pom-Poms in the 90s, and wants their music to be part of the musical. And things get more complicated (and very funny) from there…

As part of the Next Step Theatre Festival in late spring, Fur Pajamas immediately showed it has tremendous legs, in a reading that felt almost like a full-fledged opening night, so exuberant were the performers. The songs by John Allman, who accompanied the cast on keyboard, and David Ceci (book and lyrics) are catchy earworms, sung impeccably by the 9-person cast. As the squabbling ex-mates, Callahan, Kirby and Christie are great fun to watch and very believable as artists with a long complex history, and Croom is an engaging heroine as Andi navigates her own path to success while dealing with the challenging personalities of her clients.

The leads are complemented by a hilarious Sam Seleznow as the Maître D of the restaurant Delirium, where many chats (and arguments) take place; Heidi-Liz Johnson as Nigel’s Ex wife E.J., who becomes pivotal to the success or failure of the project; Elizabeth Alm as Andi’s colleague Denise, and Niko Rissi as Zach Powell, an up-and-coming pop star who Andi is enamored with. Shayna Rives provided stage directions at the reading and contributed to the stellar singing.

The story of Fur Pajamas (directed by Andrew Coopman) is tremendously entertaining, with many twists and turns, accompanied by terrific tunes like the aforementioned Pajamas hit “I Can Feel It,” “C’est la Venus,” and the fitting “Drive a Delorean”, a lament about wanting to go back in time and make things right. The story ends with the rousing and moving number “Don’t Let Them Go” about hanging on to what matters in life—both human connection and artistic dreams as they intertwine. Fur Pajamas is an overall spirited, joyful experience that will have you leave the theatre happy, hopeful, and singing.

Learn more at https://www.davidceci.com/fur-pajamas-musical.

Allie Avital and Alia Azamat Ashkenazi’s The Naked Woman Is a Gripping Tale of Devotion and Deception

As New Year’s approaches, a family of Russian immigrants has come together at their house in the idyllic upstate New York countryside to celebrate patriarch Misha (Roman Freud at this performance, sharing the role with Ilia Volok). Graduate School Architecture student Dasha (MaryKate Glenn) is at the party with her partner Dan 2 (Max Samuels)—so named because Dasha’s previous (and still amorous) paramour Dan 1 (Oleg Blinov) is also in attendance. Dasha is pregnant but is reluctant to tell Misha or his devoted wife Rina (Natasha Goubskaya).

“What if they like the baby more than me?” she worries.

But before getting to that, she must let Misha know that the tuition check he provided her has bounced. Misha reveals that his architecture business, and therefore the family’s livelihood, is in danger, following the departure of his biggest client. Misha is also haunted by the horrors experienced by his ancestors during the atrocities of the Stalin era. “I still feel that any day I could come home and my whole family will have disappeared,” he admits. “At any time, they can take away everything.”

The already uneasy celebration is interrupted by the tragic lady of the title, who runs through the woods screaming for help, observed—and ultimately ignored—by Misha. When Dasha learns of this her image of her father begins to crumble, only to be completely destroyed soon after when she learns he is an adulterer as well. But Rina is so desperate to keep the status quo that she dismisses the notion of compassion outright.

“This American obsession with caring about strangers,” she scoffs. “…It’s theater.” Even the suffering of the past and the revelation of her husband’s infidelity are met with what amounts to a sigh and a shrug.

And as a reminder that everyone is drawn in shades of gray, Dasha is observed making choices that might not be best for herself or the baby, and wavering between Dans 1 and 2. She continuously mentions her age of 35 to convince herself that she is an adult ready to leave the nest and start her own family, but Dan 2 dismisses this: “You just want to keep being the baby.”

The Naked Woman is based on co-writer Allie Avital’s 2017 short film of the same name, and it is a fascinating look at family dynamics, morality, and the impulse to “look the other way” to maintain the illusions that we desperately cling to. It’s a true intersecting of the traditional Chekhovian melodrama and the concerns of the 21^st century. Dasha yearns for self-actualization as the members of her family cling to old ways, and remain willfully blind and inert. But in a testament to the writing and performances, every character remains sympathetic even as their faults are revealed, and the audience is left pondering the question of what they themselves would do if they found themselves in these circumstances.

Glenn, Freud and Goubskaya feel astonishingly real as we spend this family celebration with them, and we cross our fingers that the holiday will end as happily as it began, despite the turbulence and tragedy along the way.

As the drama unfolds Dima Koan provides terrific comic relief as Misha’s eccentric brother Grisha—jovial, colorfully dressed, and always with a glass of red wine, even in the sauna. The play is peppered with witty observations that add some light to the shade and provide the balance to the strife, making the story feel all the more genuine.

The cast is collectively lovable and believable as a close-knit but troubled family, and their heritage clashing with the ways of modern America creates a compelling narrative.

The gorgeous-voiced Maria Atlas is Zoya, who enhances the atmosphere by leading singalongs in Russian while accompanying herself and the family on her own mint green acoustic guitar. The leads are deftly supported by Matt DeTitta as the police officer investigating both the appearance and disappearance of the mysterious Marie (Audrey Arnold), and Tatyana Kot as Misha’s “special friend” Lilya.

The set design, a bare stage framed by long blocks of wood, complements the piece beautifully, as does the impressive sound design, and the video projections of the innocent past cast onto the planks. As realized by Production Designer Pili Weeber, it wonderfully conveys both the interior of the house and the woods surrounding it, and the secrets they both hold.

Directed with heart and panache by Avital, The Naked Woman runs at Theatre 154 through June 14, 2026. It is produced by PM Theater, Joshua Elias Palmer, and Alia Azamat Ashkenazi.

The New York independent theatre landscape is bracing for a monumental summer renaissance. John Chatterton, a foundational trailblazer of the off-off-Broadway movement, has officially announced the grand return of the Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF) from June 15 through July 26, 2026. This relaunch marks the return of a true “Festival Giant” after a nearly decade-long hiatus.

To spearhead this historic undertaking, Chatterton has partnered with Jay Michaels Global Communications (JMGC) to manage promotion, brand strategy, and press visibility. Operating out of the historic three-theatre complex at the American Theatre of Actors (ATA)—which is concurrently celebrating its landmark 50th anniversary—MITF 2026 is positioning itself as a massive, multi-stage hub of creative innovation.

Among an eclectic array of world-premiere works and high-concept programming, festival producers have tapped an outrageous, sparkling new piece to anchor the festival’s final weekend: Shangri-La-La: The Siegfried & Roy Revenge Musical. Created by composer and co-writer Mike Meier, this 60-minute festival adaptation strips away the manufactured corporate polish of Las Vegas to expose the wild, dangerous, and rhinestoned machinery behind the world’s most famous illusionists.

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The Ultimate Legal Revenge Script

The genetic makeup of Shangri-La-La is rooted in an extraordinary real-world paradox. Creator Mike Meier didn’t pull this satirical narrative out of thin air; the musical was born directly from his first-hand legal experience representing real clients in high-stakes litigation against the powerful, multi-million-dollar Siegfried & Roy entertainment brand.

Turning a tense legal drama into a glittering theatrical revenge fantasy, Meier has crafted a show that is deeply funny, unapologetically outrageous, and just dangerous enough to make the sequins sweat.

Guided by the wisecracking ghost of legendary New York gangster Bugsy Siegel—the man who opened the Flamingo and practically engineered the origin myth of modern Sin City—the musical chronicles Siegfried & Roy’s meteoric rise from humble, penniless German immigrants to ultimate Las Vegas icons. Bugsy serves as the perfect, cynical master of ceremonies, viewing Vegas not as a paradise, but as a brilliant racket, reminding the audience that behind every illusion lies a corporate back room.

Translating the Megaresort to the Intimate Black Box

How do you fit Steve Wynn’s entire, hyper-glitzy corporate dream machine—complete with 3,044 hotel rooms, a roaring volcano, man-eating white tigers, and a labyrinth of legal contracts—onto an intimate off-off-Broadway stage? According to Meier, the secret is leaning completely into theatrical hyperbole.

Instead of trying to replicate the impossible scale of The Mirage, the production uses the intimate staging at the ATA to dismantle the illusion right in front of the audience’s eyes. In a brilliant, satirical homage to Macbeth, casino mogul Steve Wynn, his cutthroat contract attorney, and their manager Mephisto literally huddle around a bubbling cauldron to cook up a magic marketing brew in the showstopping number, “OUT THE CAULDRON.”

“That is the show in miniature: the glamour, the contract, the money, the smoke, the mirrors—all bubbling in the same pot,” Meier explains. “The comedy lives between the humble immigrant dream and the fifty-million-dollar illusion machine that swallows it.”

Reengineering the Focus for the Festival Format

In its full, two-hour incarnation, Shangri-La-La is anchored by Joshua, a young German assistant whose starry-eyed belief in the American Dream shatters when he gets close enough to see the cruelty, animal exploitation, and legal heavy-handedness hiding behind the sequins.

However, for this special one-hour MITF festival adaptation, Meier executed a deliberate, surgical edit. By cutting the later courtroom battles and dark human drama, this version focuses its spotlight directly on the show’s high-octane comedic engine: the precise historical moment when Las Vegas reinvented itself.

To fill a 3,044-room megaresort like The Mirage, the city had to abandon the smoky, mob-adjacent allure of topless showgirls and pivot toward family-friendly excess. Siegfried & Roy became the perfect catalysts for this corporate repackaging—proving to the world that family entertainment could still be seductive, bizarre, and wildly profitable, so long as it was wearing a cape and standing next to an endangered apex predator.

The Audience as an Active Writing Collaborator

For Meier, who began writing and composing the score two-and-a-half years ago, the vibrant, high-traffic atmosphere of the ATA complex is an essential part of the musical’s development. This short festival run acts as a crucial crucible, allowing the creative team to test comedic timing and musical pacing against live crowds.

“A comedy musical needs a vibrant, electric atmosphere to thrive truly,” says Meier. “The audience tells the truth. They tell you with laughter, silence, timing, restlessness, and surprise. For me, these performances are not just presentations. They are part of the writing process. The audience becomes our collaborator to give the show its final form.”

The MITF run serves as the launchpad for an aggressive summer tour for the abbreviated production. Shangri-La-La will play a total of six performances across the Northeast—including two slots at the Harrisburg Fringe Festival and two at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival—before Meier scales the piece back up into its definitive, two-hour theatrical format.

Official MITF Production Summary

• Production Title: Darkness to Light: Shangri-La-La: The Siegfried & Roy Revenge Musical
• Composer & Co-Writer: Mike Meier
• Narrator Character: The Ghost of Bugsy Siegel
• Venue: American Theatre of Actors (ATA), 314 W 54th St, NYC
• Runtime: 60 Minutes (Strict Limited Engagement)

Performance Schedule

• Saturday, July 25 @ 8:00 PM
• Sunday, July 26 @ 2:00 PM

John Maddison Morton’s 1853 Farce A Desperate Game brings Old-School Wit to the ATA

Mid-19^th Century Playwright John Maddison Morton was a prolific creator—he is best known for the chaotic comedy Box and Cox, and its musical version, humorously retitled Cox and Box. But his work has not been known to see revival on a regular basis. Thank goodness we have the American Theatre of Actors to rescue voices like his and bring them new life almost two centuries later.

A Desperate Game was first performed at the Theatre Royal Adelphi on April 9, 1853. It’s a brief, breezy one act, almost functioning as a prototype for the televised situation comedies of the following century. It concerns a certain Mrs. Somerton (Stephanie Sottile), a now-wealthy widow who finds herself in a love triangle with two suitors, Captain Ratcliffe (Ted Doyle) and Percy Postlewaite (Paul Maurizio). In this re-imagining Ratcliffe appears almost zorro-like at Mrs. Somerton’s home, disguised in a black mask with matching hat and outfit. The intruder is confronted by servant David (Alex Silverman), here speaking in a comic, almost Don-Knotts like voice, adding to the sitcom feel of the production.

“I must get rid of this fellow,” says Ratcliffe, in one of many humorous asides to the audience.

“Now listen here DAVID, there’s nothing that offends me more, DAVID, then familiarity in a servant…DAVID!” the captain seethes, adding more contempt to his voice with each “David.” David mistakes Ratcliffe for “that simpleton” Percy (as Ratcliffe puts it), whose arrival was expected, and Ratcliffe takes advantage of the confusion to enter Mrs. Somerton’s home to await her return from a lavish party. When the real Percy arrives, he is quickly locked in a room by Ratcliffe, who hides when Mrs. Somerton appears with devoted servant Patrick (Charles Kennedy IV)—taking the place of housekeeper “Peggy” of the original play. When Ratcliffe and Somerton finally meet, it becomes clear that his motive for wooing her is mainly to do with her new-found wealth. The two verbally spar as the flummoxed Percy hilariously bangs on the door and comments helplessly on proceedings, apparently unheard by the others as Ratcliffe makes a “proposal” (of sorts), with both pistol and receipt in tow.

“…You allowed me to be robbed?” shouts Mrs. Somerton at Percy when she finally becomes aware of his captive presence and lets him out.

“You allowed yourself to be robbed,” Percy retorts back.

“And you did nothing.”

“I beg your pardon,” Percy replies calmly, “I looked on in silent astonishment.”

Well-realized by Sottile, Mrs. Somerton is a very independent woman who does not suffer fools gladly, be they potential love interests or not. The desperate game of the title begins, referring to the clumsy, oft-hilarious battle of Ratcliffe and Percy as they try to win her. The tropes of mistaken identity, foolhardy schemes and absurdist comedy abound, leading to an “all’s well” resolution that again points to the wacky comedies of 100 years later. The delightfully clever humor and wordplay that Morton was expert at are in full force here, and performed with relish by the cast.

Directed stylishly by John DeBenedetto, A Desperate Game is a splendid entry in the classical season of the American Theatre of Actors as it celebrates its 50^th year. It runs at the Beckmann Theatre at the ATA through May 31, 2026.