By Michael Barbieri***Memories. Memories of traumatic loss, the kindness of strangers in the aftermath of that loss, and the healing that follows, are just a few of the elements of a stirring and brilliant new performance piece, Impact, currently streaming online.
Moving, sorrowful, hopeful and ultimately enlightening, Amy Engelhardt’s Impact is a monologue with music, detailing the 1988 terrorist bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and events that tied her to the attack. Engelhardt’s personal connections to the tragedy led her, unexpectedly, to new depths of her art, and gave her a renewed hope for humanity. Written and performed by Engelhardt, Impact is presented as a multimedia scrapbook of sorts, combining photographs, film and video clips and snippets of vocal recordings, all of which paint a real, compelling portrait of some of the victims of the bombing. She also tells of her meetings with members of the victims’ families and residents of Lockerbie who became involved by virtue of circumstance.
Beginning with an account of the bombing, Engelhardt’s delivery is truthful and conversational—beautifully non actor-y, if you will. She tells of the 35 students from Syracuse University (SU) who were returning from a season abroad, five of whom she knew from the drama department, having been a drama student at SU herself.
Engelhardt wasn’t having what she calls “an Orange-tastic time” at Syracuse. As she was decidedly not an ingenue, she wasn’t getting the roles she wanted. But a professor turned her on to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where she switched her focus from theater to pop and rock music. In 1990, she moved to Los Angeles, and though she didn’t become the highly successful songwriter she’d hoped to be, she did write quite a bit; she felt that because her deceased friends weren’t getting the chance to make their art, she was obligated to make her own. In 1998, Engelhardt became a member of The Bobs, a fabulous, Grammy-nominated a cappella vocal group. And in 2017, having left The Bobs, she co-authored a musical called Bastard Jones, based on the bawdy comic novel from 1749. Finally, in 2019, after a period where her gigs dried up, as she puts it, she auditioned for and got a job doing promotional events for a TV mini-series called “Good Omens.” Playing the Mother Superior of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl’s—a conven
t of silly, singing, satanic nuns, the promos would take her to Austin, Texas for the SXSW Festival, as well as New York, L.A. and London.
Throughout this journey, Engelhardt realized that life was throwing up what she calls “Follow Signs”—moments, often seemingly unrelated, that led her to healing her soul and finding her true artistic voice. These Follow Signs included the front page of the NY Daily News that showed a photograph of a woman who’d collapsed at the news that her daughter had died on Flight 103; that woman was the mother of Nicole, one of Engelhardt’s friends. In watching a documentary about the disaster, she saw a segment about a woman in Lockerbie who’d found a purse in her garden. That purse had belonged to Nicole. A fan of The Bobs sent Amy an e-mail saying that her son had died in the 9/11 attack and the Bobs album, Coaster, helped her get through the trauma of that loss. And the “Good Omens” job would take her to London, giving her an opportunity to visit Lockerbie. These signs made it seem as though Engelhardt’s whole adult life was leading up to this healing visit, and her recounting of her time spent in Scotland is easily one of the most moving, emotional and yes, uplifting aspects of this tremendous monologue.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t looking forward to reviewing a streaming video; I’ve resisted other requests to do such. However, knowing Ms. Engelhardt, I trusted in her talent, and I have to say I was not disappointed! I felt that reviewing a video would be boring and a waste of my time, but with Impact, I found myself mesmerized and emotionally invested. The film is shot elegantly and sparingly by videographer Billy D. Mann, on a mostly bare stage, allowing for the photographs, films and videos to shine on their own. And Engelhardt’s songs—in particular “Tartan Plaid,” “Deep Blue Sea” and “Girl in the Garden,” absolutely knocked me out! (Be prepared to shed a few tears with “Girl in the Garden!”)
According to Engelhardt, Impact will be rerun online at some point fairly soon. She also is hoping to present a live theatrical version in the near future. Whenever that live production happens, believe me, I’m there! Whichever way you manage to see it, I recommend it with all my heart!
Impact is a journey worth taking!
Listen to “Deep Blue Sea” from Impact:
Leave a Reply