Gutless & Grateful: Musical Theatre comes to Wesleyan University!

HuffPost Columnist/Award-Winning Actress & Inspirational Survivor brings one-woman autobiographical musical to Wesleyan University on October 6, 2018, presented by Adolescent Sexual Health Awareness as a fundraiser for New Horizons Domestic Violence Services.

Following sold-out runs from New York City to Kansas City, the incredibly resilient and inspirational Amy Oestreicher will bring her hit one-woman musical Gutless & Grateful to Wesleyan University, presented by Adolescent Sexual Health Awareness. In this moving and entertaining evening of song, performer Amy Oestreicher weaves her near death experience and unique personal story with an eclectic set of songs, highlighting the disappointments, struggles, triumphs and humor in her life.

Nominated for "Best Theatre Debut" in 2012 (Broadway World), Gutless & Grateful: A Musical Feast takes audiences on a musical journey of hope, determination, and perseverance as Amy Oestreicher shares her gratitude, her strength and resilience with the world. The show was Created/Conceived by Amy Oestreicher and also features the song "Still Alive" which was written for Amy by acclaimed composer David Friedman with lyrics by TV personality and lyricist Kathie Lee Gifford. Amy is also a Huffington Post columnist, Audie-award nominated playwright, and 3-time TEDx Speaker.

Growing up, theatre was Amy's entire universe. She trained and performed professionally as a child and a teenager, but in April of her senior year of high school, everything changed. Amy abruptly developed a blood clot, her stomach exploded in the operating room of the hospital, and after both her lungs collapsed, she nearly died. After waking up from a coma months later covered in tubes, bags, and drains, she was told she had no stomach anymore and couldn't eat or drink and nobody could tell her if she ever would be able to again. Six years and 27 surgeries later, Amy's digestive system was miraculously reconstructed and she could begin putting her life back together.

Come for a night of inspiring story-telling and song as she shares the disappointments, the triumphs, and the humor – the challenges, the battles, and ultimately the gifts of what Amy received from this experience. It is a story of hope, determination, and perseverance a way to share her gratitude and strength with the world. Through the ups and downs, Amy’s fight proves that you never know what you are capable of until you are asked to the challenge and the human spirit can prevail over any odds.

Through seven years of surgeries and medical crises, Amy never let herself feel like a “patient” or “victim.” Rather than mourn her hunger, she started a chocolate business, a food blog, learned karate, starred in musicals, put up several art shows, and taught nursery school. Through it all, Amy has always kept her spirit alive and her appetite for life ravenous. Touring Gutless & Grateful across the country for three years to colleges, theatres, and international festivals and conferences including the Transformative Language Arts Network National Conference, the Eating Recovery Center Foundation, and The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling. Amy's musical story has earned rave reviews and accolades since it’s BroadwayWorld Award-nominated NYC debut.

Amy's story has appeared on the TODAY Show, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, Daily Mail, Huffington Post, among others. , where she shared her joy and gratitude for being alive, as well as her hunger for everything life can offer. With musical direction from Broadway-veteran Jerold Goldstein, the show also includes a song David Friedman wrote especially for Amy with lyrics by Kathie Lee Gifford.

“One part moving testament to human indomitability, the other a thoroughly satisfying evening of song. While each element is strong enough to stand on its own, combined they illuminate and enhance each other. Rarely have I seen narration and song so artfully meshed, and Oestreicher’s likeability, good humor, interpretive skill, and manifest commitment to what she is saying and singing make us not only understand her story, but also feel it on a very deep level.” – Roy Sanders, Bistro Awards

As Amy has changed, so as her show, even adding a comic bit after a disastrous 27th surgery. “This show will always be a part of my life and just as I do, it will keep growing, evolving changing. I did revise it after a recent surgery went terribly wrong. At least I got a few laughs out of it! My story is very complex, but very inspirational."

And it promises a happy ending. The moral of the story is that there is definitely life after the worst things you can experience. Gutless and Grateful: A Musical Feast will be at Wesleyan University’s Ring Family Performing Arts Hall on October 6th, 2018 at 7:30PM. Visit her at www.amyoes.com and learn more about the festival at find ticket information at https://wesleyan.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx?cid=165 or buy your ticket at the door!

Contact:

Amy Oestreicher

203 209 4948

amyoes70@gmail.com

amyoes.com