Dana Aber Brings One-Woman Musical BAGGAGE AT THE DOOR to AMT Theater

Performances begin tonight, Tuesday, October 31, 2023 at 7pm for the Off-Broadway premiere of Baggage at the Door, an original one-woman musical addressing the critical moment a (seemingly well-adjusted trauma-queen) survivor realizes she may no longer be able to cope; when falling in love triggers here lurking PTSD, she might by f*#&ed. Created and performed by Dana Aber, with music direction by Jacob Stebly, and direction and dramaturgy by Joe Langworth, the show will play a limited engagement through November 16, 2023, at AMT Theater (354 West 45th Street – between 8th & 9th Aves). The show is a co-production between Big Thunder Productions, LLC and AMT Theater.

Four consecutive Januarys with four near-death experiences...um, Happy New Year? This particular January, the scorched survivor's barricades are breached, and protective layers peeled away as she navigates the precarious terrors of falling in love. In Baggage at the Door, that bright-eyed city girl is unmasked as a poster child for high-functioning PTSD. If she can't connect, she may miss out on a future she longs for. Struggling with internal dumpster fires on a spare stage richly textured with immersive sound and animated projections, she tap-dances eating cheese, sings her conflicted identifies, swaddles herself with protective rhinestones, and enlists the audience's guidance on a witty, honest, and gripping journey to break the trauma cycle and find the courage to finally unpack.

Baggage at the Door features songs created in collaboration with: James Ballard, Christie Baugher, Alanya Bridge, Amy Burgess & Sara Cooper, Teresa Lotz, Joseph Trefler, Rachel Dean, Mika Kauffman, Martha Miller, and Thomas Jacobsen.

Original art created for the show by: Jamie Gaul, Josh Haplea, Chelsey Hill, Nichola Latzgo, Annie Moor, Bee Michael, Dr. Natalie J. Russ, and Dana Aber.

As a survivor of traumatic events and domestic abuse who has worked, through therapy and later through creative process, to confront the mental health damage created from them, creator Dana Aber is in a unique position to address how trauma and PTSD and anxiety can look, sound, feel to a person, and how it can be expressed or shown in a person's life. And, equally, Dana's play Baggage at the Door shows how those mental health challenges can be confronted and addressed in the struggle to achieve better mental health and quality of life. The Baggage at the Door project was created from essays and poetry written in response to the struggle; the acting, songs, and language of the piece - both libretto text and song lyric - are equal parts direct and reflective, serious and funny, angry and peaceful, regretful and wistful – and ultimately empowered. This play contains the mix of Everyperson's interior landscape, but particularly the interior work of those struggling to regain mental health balance. Baggage at the Door is designed to be an approachable and complete piece of theater as well as an expression of the struggle and yearning for mental health with all of its ups and downs.

The creative team is Josh Freilich (orchestrations), Marc Halpin (set design), Aiden Bezak (lighting design) and Dana Aber (projection design). The production stage manager is Brent Michael Jones.

Baggage at the Door will play the following performance schedule: Tuesdays at 7pm, Wednesdays at 3pm & 7pm, & Thursdays at 7pm. The show runs 85 minutes.

Tickets are priced at $40 (general admission) and $50 (premium) and may be purchased online at the link below Tickets may also be purchased in person at the AMT Theater box office one (1) hour before curtain.

For more information, visit www.baggageatthedoormusical.com.

BIOS

Dana Aber (she/her) - (Creator & Performer) is an award-winning theatre performer, producer, collaborator, and creator, with a 20-year career spanning across the country and across the seas. She has been seen in NYC Off-Broadway, at The Dixon Place, NYFringe Festival, NYMF, Apollo Theatre, and FDCAC/Classical Theatre of Harlem. A strong advocate for the development of new musicals, she has been involved in countless presentations at New Dramatists, NYU Tisch, Dramatists Guild, Ars Nova, and across virtual media. Through her Big Thunder Productions company, Dana has created and helmed 8 concert-cabarets, most notably the bi-coastal #YesAllWomen Raise Your Voice concert joining artists within the movement for gender equality. As a theatre writer, Dana's autobiographical 1-woman musical, Baggage at the Door, travels her healing process from trauma-induced PTSD. Baggage at the Door was a finalist in NYC's ONEFest and earned Dana a month-long artist residency with Elsewhere Studios in Colorado in 2018. Coming up, Baggage at the Door looks forward to its regional premiere in Virginia, and Dana's next solo show FINAL BLOW, which explores the blame placed on boundary setting, will have its NYC festival debut in November 2021. Dana is currently collaborating with her brother, Broadway's Drew Aber (he/him), on her new play Save/Reload, about identity exploration through video games. She is a survivor and advocate and is honored to be able to use her voice to share for those who cannot.

Joe Langworth (Direction & Dramaturgy) is a multi-talented theatre artist who has worn many hats throughout his career: director, choreographer, casting director, performer, writer and teacher. As a director and dramaturg, Joe has helped develop new plays and musicals alike including Broken Snow by Ben Andron, Suicidal Life Coach by Ken Offricht and Off-Broadway's The Book of Merman by Leo Schwartz and DC Cathro. Joe's work re-examining musical theatre classics, such as West Side Story, Oklahoma!, and Carousel, has garnered him critical acclaim across the country, including nominations from the Los Angeles Critics Circle, BroadwayWorld and the Los Angeles Scenie Awards. In NYC, Joe directed 2-time Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes in her cabaret debut at the Cafe Carlyle (recorded live on Broadway Records) and also created An Evening with Tony Award winner Paulo Szot, which debuted at The Spoleto Festival in Italy and went on to play NYC's 54 Below. Joe has collaborated with some of theatre's finest talent, including Bartlett Sher and Christopher Gattelli on the Tony Award winning revival of South Pacific and Sheryl Kaller on the Tony nominated play Next Fall. As a casting director with Telsey + Company, Joe contributed to numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions including In the Heights, Rent, Dirty Dancing, South Pacific, Company, High Fidelity and others. Joe's Broadway performing debut was in the original production of Michael Bennett's A Chorus Line. He went on to perform in the original production of Ragtime and the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Follies. He toured the U.S. and Europe with The Who's Tommy, West Side Story, On the Town, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and more. He has performed regionally from the La Jolla Playhouse in California to the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. A career highlight…being one of “Ann-Margret's boys” in her live stage show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Joe now shares his skills with the new generation of theatre artists. He was a professor with the theatre department at SUNY New Paltz and has been a guest of many other training programs including, NYU, Juilliard, Cap 21, AMDA, Broadway Artists Alliance, Actor's Connection, University of Hawaii, SUNY Ulster and his alma mater, SUNY Geneseo. Joe is currently developing his new musical 15 Minutes More… (book and lyrics), alongside composer, Steve Marzullo.

Jacob Stebly (Music Direction) is a New York City-based pianist, music director, and vocal coach. He is a graduate of The Eastman School of Music where he studied voice and opera performance. Most recently he served as the associate music director and staff pianist for the Syracuse University Department of Drama where he also taught on the adjunct voice faculty.

AMT Theater is the brainchild of Producer Al Tapper ("Broadway: The Golden Age") and Artistic Director Tony Sportiello. The goal is to create a regional theater right in the heart of Manhattan's theater district, creating new shows and new musicals, doing children's theater, cabaret, festivals, readings and more. It is a haven for actors, writers, directors, technicians, stagehands, and audiences, as we seek to create exciting new work and become an integral piece of the Broadway community. Stay in touch as our seasons unfold and come be a part of our great experiment!

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