There is a quiet, desperate magic tucked away in New Orleans’ historic Seventh Ward. In One Night at the Blackbird—the rousing, dynamic new play by Maria Messias Mendes and Thomas Mullen hitting New York City’s AMT Theater this August as part of the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival—that magic takes the form of a clandestine underworld. Head past the velvet rope and through the back of an old funeral home, and you’ll find a sanctuary where the greatest musical legends in history never stopped playing.

There’s jazz, blues, and gospel in the air, but there is also a dark reckoning on the horizon: Lucy—yes, that Lucifer—has decided it’s time to shut the speakeasy down for good.

Standing directly between the Devil herself and the immortal souls of icons like Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson is Herman Godfrey, the speakeasy’s deeply mortal manager. Portrayed by powerhouse actor KC Simms, Herman is the show’s emotional center—a man willing to go to the absolute edge to keep the music alive.

Finding the Feeling: Crafting Herman Godfrey

While One Night at the Blackbird balances high-stakes supernatural drama with a soaring soundtrack, Simms approaches the role by stripping away the ethereal and digging straight into the raw, human core of his character.

For Simms, breathing life into Herman wasn’t about playing against ghosts or demigods; it was about tapping into a fundamental human truth: the fear of being forgotten.

“I play Herman the same way I play any character. I look for the feeling,” Simms shares. “What did I feel when I needed something more than anything else in the world? Herman’s desperation comes from his fear of being forgotten. It comes from a place of wanting to be truly known. We all know what it’s like to want something just out of grasp. It puts us on a self-perpetuating cycle of highs and lows, and with Herman it’s an extremely quick cycle. Playing Herman is playing that cycle.”

That rapid-fire emotional pendulum is what gives Herman his vital urgency. Facing an existential eviction notice from Lucifer herself, Herman operates under pressure that would crush most men. Yet, Simms channels that panic into something deeply relatable, transforming Herman from a simple plot driver into a mirror for the audience’s own fears and desires.

Anchoring the Supernatural Chaos

In a world populated by larger-than-life figures—from Xavier Rodney’s Louis Armstrong and Alexandria Thomas’s Mahalia Jackson to Aria Jackson’s formidable Lucy—it falls on Simms to ground the play’s ethereal stakes.

Simms views Herman not as a helpless pawn among titans, but as the essential bridge connecting the audience to the supernatural world on stage.

“Underneath each of these figures is a human heart,” says Simms. “Herman has fears just like Satch, Allen, and Lucy. He’s just human. The audience feels the stakes because he feels them. I approach him as a person who’s doing the only thing he knows how to do and is about to have it ripped from him. That constant would apply whether this story happened in space with Darth Vader… or with the Loch Ness monster.”

It is precisely this grounded performance that allows One Night at the Blackbird to soar. Directed with visionary flair by Michael Hagins and produced by Thomas Mullen, the production uses Simms’ grounded humanity to balance its otherworldly spectacle, ensuring that every blues riff and supernatural standoff lands with genuine emotional impact.

Production & Performance Details

Presented by Jay Michaels Global Communications and featuring a creative team that includes Stage Manager/Lighting & Sound Designer Adam Sherwin, Assistant Stage Manager Lauren Arneson, and Costume Designer Kat Santomoreno, One Night at the Blackbird is set for a strictly limited engagement of three performances only this August at the AMT Theater in Manhattan.

Cast List

• Herman Godfrey: KC Simms
• Lucy: Aria Jackson
• Louis Armstrong: Xavier Rodney
• Allen Toussaint: Duane Ferguson
• Mahalia Jackson: Alexandria Thomas

Performance Schedule

• Wednesday, August 12 at 8:00 p.m.
• Friday, August 14 at 5:00 p.m.
• Sunday, August 16 at 2:00 p.m.

Venue: AMT Theater, 354 W 45th St, New York, NY 10036

Tickets: Available online via the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival / Ludus portal, or at the door prior to showtime.