Phantom Lamp Theatre Company Launch Party and The Magnetic Theatre’s Farewell
A Funeral for The Magnetic Theatre and the Birth for What’s Next
Saturday, November 8, 2025 – 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
A benefit performance and announcement of Phantom Lamp Theatre Company
Welcome Note
Thank you for joining us to celebrate the end of one era and the beginning of another. We gather to honor The Magnetic Theatre—bold experiments, original voices, and local risk‑taking—and to celebrate the birth of the next chapter: Phantom Lamp Theatre Company.
With gratitude,
Abby, Jason, Jess, Katie & Quinn
Founding Members of the Phantom Lamp Theatre Company
Program Schedule: ACT 1, The Magnetic’s Final Bow
Members of the Magnetic Team Welcome You!
Steve Samuels - The Merchant of Asheville
Steven Samuels is a writer, director, actor, producer, editor, and publisher with a lifelong knack for co-founding theatre companies. Today Steven will be gracing us with an excerpt from his play The Merchant of Asheville which was the debut work at the 375 Depot Street location of The Magnetic . The Asheville Citizen Times said the play was “…an appropriate celebration of the return of a unique aspect of cultural life in the RAD and in the larger Asheville scene.”
Jered Shults & Daniel Moore — Action Movie: The Play
In 2019 Daniel Moore and Jered Shults were featured in Action Movie: The Play, of which Asheville Movies said that “burns brightest when it leans into the action movie satire. A ridiculous “opening credit sequence” and other cinematic features by sound and projection designer Rodney Smith are hilariously genre-blending”. Today Daniel and Jered give us a brief glimpse into the madness and thrill of the chase.
David Hopes — In the Assassin’s Garden
David Hopes is a successful playwright and poet and one of The Magnetic’s most frequently produced writers. Today he presents a monologue from In the Assassins’ Garden, which ran in September of 2021. Asheville Movie’s called it “a clever, poetic, and entertaining work of art that brings to light an often-forgotten period of our history that now, more than ever, we should remember. I only hope the message isn’t too late.”
Buncombe Turnpike — The Sparrow & the Whippoorwill
Buncombe Turnpike is comprised entirely of western North Carolina natives. The band plays a variety of tunes ranging from traditional and contemporary bluegrass to gospel and hand-crafted originals. The Sparrow and the Whippoorwill was written by Buncombe Turnpike member and our generous host for the day, Tom Godleski. It was part of The Magnetic Theatre’s New Play Development Program. The Sparrow and the Whippoorwill premiered in September 2021 and featured Bluegrass harmonies and Appalachian roots. It is an ode to flight and homecoming.
Jamie Knox — something i cared about
Jamie Knox was a regular to The Magnetic as a superb actor and director, accomplished playwright and a cheeky choreographer. She teamed up with Travis Lowe and Jason Phillips to create something i cared about which told the story of one relationship through multiple lenses as it bounced around through time. Jason designed the piece to bring theatre safely to a pandemic audience outside on the Reed Creek Greenway. Today, Jamie reads one of her monologues from the play. It is one of the most exuberant and hopeful pieces of the play.
Erin McCarson — It’s The Most ____ Time of the Year
Erin McCarson is a powerful actor, skilled director and as It’s the Most ___ Time of the Year showed us, a writer who can unearth the comedy in a family drama, or is it a dive deep into the drama of the cheerful holiday? It’s both. This show was also part of The Magnetic Theatre’s New Play Development program and premiered in 2021. Today, Erin will bring us a heartfelt monologue from this very merry and terribly teary holiday show.
Quinn Terry, Dwight Chiles & Zach Knox — What I’ll Miss from HappyLand
2023 brought another New Play Development alumnus, the joyful and surreal HappyLand by Brayden Dickerson and Zach Knox, members of the local funky neo soul blues band Smooth Goose. The boys in the band combined with our supremely talented cast, rocked out and brought audiences great joy, aliens and mini-golf. Today two of our original cast members, the ever fabulous Quinn Terry and delightful Dwight Chiles, along with the Zach Knox bring us What I’ll Miss. It’s a tender and bouncy little number about the end of the world!
Morgan Miller — New Queer’s Eve
The Magnetic Theatre’s final full production was New Queer’s Eve. Conceived by Jason Phillips to celebrate queer experience through various decade and the New Year’s holiday, this show told bold tales by Mickey Poandl, Abby Auman, Jason Phillips and Eli Hamilton covering a wealth of experiences. Today, the multi-talented Morgan Miller once again brings to life a heart-rending monologue by Abby Auman, which speaks to our desperate attempts to make sense of these troubled times.
Death Comes a Calling
It’s time for us to say good-bye to The Magnetic Theatre. The bell hath tolled for thee old friend and now that we have paid you tribute we shall lay you to rest with a visit from someone we all see sooner or later…
Stretch your legs
Get a snack, mingle and weep while you wait for a new beginning
Program Schedule: ACT 2, Our New Arrival
Death is Back Baby!
Our friend Death is back and forcing an audience member to do their bidding. A friend from the audience will be the first to try out some new work from Phantom Lamp Theatre Company.
The Phantom Lamp is Lit!
When something dies, the space it leaves behind hums. And sometimes, that hum becomes a spark. We call that spark Phantom Lamp. The team will now tell you about the mission of the new company and how our inaugural season will take shape. Members of the Phantom Lamp team will walk you through our mission and vision. Followed by some details on our 2026 Season.
Boo, Bitch
We share details of our first production, picture, if you will, a typical scene of American domesticity: a cozy apartment, a loving couple, and the wall-to-wall ghosts who haunt their every move. You, the audience, will play the role of the many ghosts who fill the apartment of the unfortunate couple. You’ll watch them live, love, and attempt to build a life around the towering impediment that is you. Your host will be a fellow member of the dearly departed who very much wants to see the couple fail. Will you aid in her efforts? Will you defy her in defense of the living? And most importantly, will you survive the exorcisms?
SEX PLAY
Next in our 2026 season is Sex Play, structured after Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde this collaborative new work will follow characters as they move from rendezvous to rendezvous with a decidedly modern bent. Phantom Lamp explores the modern sexual landscape and take a long, ahem, hard look at how some folks play.
How to Get Involved
We will share how to become a part of Phantom Lamp’s inaugural season!
A Toast to the memory of the old and birth of the new
The Magnetic gave us a home, a family, a stage. Phantom Lamp gives us the light to find our way forward. Raise your glasses — to what was, and to what’s next!