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.