“Those who saw the play, as did I, watched an immensely talented and arresting performer... It was honestly intimate, sometimes to the point of pain. But this was not a polemic or a couple of hours filled by dry lessons. Most left the theater with, yes, a greater understanding of the ravages and realities of mental illness but also with an appreciation of the artfulness and courage it took to bring it all on stage. They were entertained.”
- Rick Kogan, The Chicago Tribune
Get Out Alive is a new autobiographical musical by indie artist, actor & activist Nikki Lynette.
Get Out Alive is an autobiographical afrogoth musical written and performed by artist Nikki Lynette who recounts her personal experience with mental health through the lens of an afrogoth funeral service. After a highly acclaimed sold-out run in Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series, the show was adapted to film in 2021, where it had an award winning festival run. The musical returned to the stage as the breakout hit at NAMT in 2022, changing the trajectory of the project. In Spring of 2024, Nikki Lynette was the first American playwright to be invited to Scotland’s prestigious Cove Park Musical Theatre Writing Residency. Get Out Alive in currently in development under the guidance of the Tony Award winning production company, Octopus Theatricals.
Nikki Lynette is the first Black woman to have a play developed by the prestigious American Music Theatre Project
Get Out Alive is the first AMTP play to debut at Steppenwolf, as part of it’s LookOut Series that highlights new works
Get Out Alive is the first Steppenwolf LookOut Series work to add a 5th sold out show after selling out the initial run.
Nikki Lynette is the first woman developed my AMTP to be selected for NAMT’s Festival of New Musicals.
Nikki Lynette is the first American writer to be invited to work at the Cove Park Musical Theatre Writing Residency.
“Music that deals with mental health doesn’t have to be sad or corny. If these are issues we navigate everyday, then it should be the soundtrack to people’s real lives,” Lynette said. “When I went into the psyche ward after a suicide attempt, I met all these people with the same issues as me, and they felt alone, too. I told them when I got out, I would use my platform to tell our stories — and I’m keeping my word.”
The first songs from Get Out Alive were performed in 2018, when Lynette opened for Russian feminist protest punk rock group Pussy Riot. The full piece was later workshopped in a developmental reading produced by the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University in May 2019. Lynette was the first black woman to have her work developed and produced by AMTP.
A creative powerhouse, Lynette is an artist whose style is equal parts hip hop, alternative and pop. Her music has been featured in popular shows on Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, Fox and MTV. Since her return to the public eye, she has written articles about mental health, depression and suicide for prominent black publications, and is currently working on the mental health documentary Happy Songs About Unhappy Things—the inspired product of Lynette’s sit-down with renowned director Spike Lee.
IN October 2022, Get Out Alive was presented to a Broadway audience as part of NAMT’s 2022 Festival of New Musicals. It got an overwhelming response, and was the only musical to receive a standing ovation at both presentations.
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The 12th Annual BronzeLens Film Festival (Winner–Best Actress; Atlanta) Aug – 22, 2021
Chicago Indie Film Festival (Winner-Best First Time Filmmaker; Illinois) Aug 1 – 4, 2021
The 11th Annual Lake County (Winner–Audience Best Feature; Illinois) Nov 4 – 15, 2021
The 9th Annual AuContraire Film Festival (Canada) Oct 3-13, 2021
Cannes World (France) June 1 – 30, 2021
Melbourne Lift-Off (Australia) Nov 22 – Dec 20, 2021
The 23rd Annual Decibels Film Festival (San Francisco) Oct 28 – Nov 7, 2021
The 22nd Annual Sound Unseen Film Festival (Minneapolis) Nov 10 – 14, 2021
The 30th Anniversary Pan African Film + Art Festival (Los Angeles) Feb 8 – 21, 2022
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (Washington) Aug 5 – 7, 2022
NAMT 34th Annual Festival of New Musicals (New York) October 20-21, 2022
Black Harvest Film Festival (Chicago) Nov 4 – Nov 27, 2022
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (New York) Nov 25 – Dec 11, 2022
CREATIVE TEAM BIOS
NIKKI LYNETTE (she/her) is a social impact artist & suicide survivor who fuses mental health activism into her musical theater performances, film projects and visual art, creating a lane that is uniquely her own. This Chicago native’s self-produced songs are frequently featured in popular shows on Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and more. Her journey with mental health outreach began in 2016 when she returned to the public eye after a long hiatus with a confession: she’d secretly been battling mental health issues. In a time when being open about mental health struggles was taboo, Nikki began writing articles about depression and suicide for prominent media like Afropunk and AllHipHop. As the opening act for Pussy Riot’s first American tour, Nikki workshopped the material that would soon become her buzzed-about new musical about depression, GET OUT ALIVE. Nikki has made history as the first black female playwright to have a musical produced by American Music Theatre Project, the first AMTP work to debut at Steppenwolf, as well as the first Steppenwolf LookOut Series work and first female AMTP alum to be featured at NAMT's Festival of New Musicals. The stage show is currently in development under the guidance of Octopus Theatricals.
BRANNON BOWERS (they/them) is the Producing Director of the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University where they have helped develop over 20 new musicals and established an ongoing international partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to commission and produce two new musicals for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every year. Brannon also produces the annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project and currently serves on the Festival Committee for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT). Prior to their time at Northwestern, Brannon worked at McCarter Theatre Center as the Producing/ Casting Apprentice, and has held internships at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Redmoon Theater. Brannon is a proud graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Theatre, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and Integrated Marketing Communications.
MATT HENNESSY (he/him) is the Chief Engineer, Producer, and Studio Owner here at VSOP Studios. Receiving formal training at Berklee College of Music, studying both Jazz Performance and Production, Hennessy spent the next 2 decades working behind the board with the best of the best talent in the music business. Helming landmark projects with Twista, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kanye West, R. Kelly and DMX to helping newer artists emerge, like Eryn Allen Kane, Elton Aura and The O’My’s. Regardless of where you are in your musical journey, Matt Hennessy can help you bring out your best in the studio and achieve the sound you have only ever heard in you head, blast out of the speakers.