AMT IS FIVE

Our mighty theater is 5 years old! We were born during COVID and that seems to have imbued us with ultimate survivor skills because we are still here and we plan to stay here for the foreseeable future. We celebrated in true AMT fashion with a free reading of Tony's new play, The Valley of Fear, a Sherlock Holmes adaption. Drinks were flowing, audience members were happy and the night was wonderful, of course.

Lynelle Johnson and Richard Danley opened the show with a fantastic rendition of Mack the Knife. Lynelle works with Tony, Jake and I at the Racquet Club and since Jake and I were acting in the reading and it was Tony's play we thought Lynelle should open the show because she is wildly talented and it feels good to widen the AMT talent family and increase the Manhattan Plaza Racquet Club connections even more.

Lynelle Johnson and Richard Danley

I was lucky to be cast in the reading and goodness was it a wonderful experience. Tamara Flannagan was making her directorial debut with this reading and she was great. I found her guidance to be helpful and constructive, and with Tony's help she brought together an incredibly talented cast who were fun, intelligent and dedicated to bringing this new play to life. The person doing stage directions was Ryan, fresh from Oregon, quite literally he has only been in the big apple for 2 weeks! His mother is a friend of Tamara's cousin and when he said he wanted to move to NYC and pursue acting she put him in touch with Tamara and as fate would have it our original reader of stage directions suddenly had to bow out and who was right there to step in and make his NYC stage debut, but Ryan! AMT is a place where dreams can make their start and we look forward to working and supporting Ryan in his acting career. AMT gave me my biggest chance when they handed me the reigns for Development and Fundraising back in 2023 after only knowing me since late 2022. I am forever grateful for this opportunity to carve out a new career for myself and still be able to perform, choreograph and produce theater. This is part of what we wanted to celebrate, 5 years of AMT being a creative home for the performing arts, a beautiful place where artists are supported and nurtured.

The night was also about celebrating and thanking the people who have supported us over the past 5 years. We are still alive and staging shows because of the loyal support of our audience members and volunteers. Thank you for standing by us, buying tickets, sharing our posts and telling your friends about us, we hope to continue being a place you can come to to escape the harsh realities of this world.

A wonderful and unexpected highlight of the day was receiving a Proclamation from Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman - Sigal!

Now, if you are like me and have no idea what a Proclamation is let me enlighten you: A proclamation is an official, formal public announcement made by an authority figure or government body. It serves to formally notify the public about important decisions, events, or policies. So...

"Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan Borough President, do hereby commend the AMT Theater for their contributions to the City; and proclaim Tuesday, July 14, 2026, "AMT THEATER APPRECIATION DAY".

HOW COOL IS THAT?!? We have our very own day (move over Bastille Day!). We are so chuffed by this and I for one was smiling like the Cheshire Cat for days whenever I thought about it. As a team, we work tirelessly to keep the doors open and support the arts, we don't do it for the money or the accolades, but gosh is it lovely when we do get recognition and this was very special. Thank you Mr. Borough President, you have been a supporter of AMT for many years and we appreciate the Proclamation so much.

I leave you with a gallery of super human beings, our supporters, you were a wonderful audience and we look forward to continuing to bring you good theater. To the next 5 years of AMT Theater!