About SINGLE RIDER
It's the hottest day of the year at Lucky Land Amusement Park in Lancaster County, PA. Abigail, Sarah, and Moira - three Amish girls from a nearby community - arrive at the park for their very first day of Rumspringa, the year in an Amish teenager's life when they are given the opportunity to explore the "English" world. In their one day at Lucky Land, each girl has a life-changing adventure that will alter the way she thinks about her upbringing - and herself - forever. And when Abigail falls for Shane, a troubled but kind-hearted teen from Florida, she must make the ultimate decision: return to the safety of the Amish world or leave her family behind in favor of a life she's never known and a feeling she never expected.
This fast-paced, fun, and joyful new musical employs a contemporary Pop/Rock/Folk score to tell a story that is light in tone but deep in thematic content. Its unique exploration of Amish culture and the intriguing custom of Rumspringa renders it one of-a-kind in the contemporary theatrical canon. And, with a refreshing wit and charm laced throughout the original songs, Single Rider is certainly a thrill ride audiences will not soon forget.
Music & Book by Amanda D’Archangelis, Lyrics & Book by Sami Horneff
Images from the Off Broadway Production at The Players Theatre (2018) by Stephanie Turci Photography
creative team
AMANDA D’ARCHANGELIS (Music & Book) is a gay Puerto Rican composer and actress in NYC. She holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theater from The Boston Conservatory, and is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop. Credits include: SINGLE RIDER (Music & Book, Off-Broadway); THE RADIUM GIRLS: A JAW-DROPPING NEW MUSICAL with Sami Horneff and Lisa Mongillo (Directed by Marissa Jaret Winokur, 2022 NAMT Semi-Finalist and five-time winner at The 2021 National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival),COMING ATTRACTION (Wilbury Theatre Group 2019); and THE BREAK (Omaha Creative Institute 2018). Film: S&M Records which premiered at Newfest in 2023. Upcoming: HAMLET directed by Joel Kirk, SON OF MAUDE with Anderson Cook, BANDIT QUEEN with Sami Horneff and PANDORA IN BLUE JEANS with Sami Horneff and Adam Morrison. Her music has been performed on Good Morning America, SiriusXM’s The Jay Thomas Show, Lincoln Center, Feinstein's 54 Below, The Duplex, Green Room 42, The Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, and more. www.amandadarchangelis.com
SAMI HORNEFF (Lyrics & Book) is a born and raised New Yorker, a proud graduate of Brown University, and an advanced lyricist and bookwriter in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Recent credits include: THE RADIUM GIRLS: A JAW-DROPPING NEW MUSICAL (Lyrics & Book), which was a 2022 NAMT semi-finalist, a five-time winner at The 2021 National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and most recently had its first industry presentation directed by Tony Winner Marissa Jaret Winokur; SINGLE RIDER (Lyrics & Book, Off-Broadway 2018); ArtsPower National Touring Theatre’s JUDY MOODY & STINK (Lyrics); COMING ATTRACTION (Lyrics); THE BREAK (Lyrics, Omaha Creative Institute); A NEVER-ENDING LINE (Lyrics, Off-Broadway); ROCK AND A HARD PLACE (Music & Lyrics); THE UNDER 5ERS web series (Writer/Producer, 2016 Indie Series Award Nominee for Best Original Song); and two original songs for the feature film A RING FOR CHRISTMAS (UPtv). Her work has been performed at venues and educational institutions from New York to Paris, as well as on Ken Davenport’s The Producer’s Perspective podcast. She was a 2019 York Theatre Company’s New/Emerging/Outstanding (NEO) writer; a 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at The Legacy Theatre in Branford, CT; and a 2025 Artist in Residence at Drama Club Camp. In February 2024, her work was featured as part of Playbill’s Songwriter Series. For more info, visit: @sami.horneff on instagram | www.samihorneff.com
Jonathan Bauerfeld (ORCHESTRATIONS) is a Manhattan based musical theatre composer, orchestrator, music director, and copyist. He is a proud member of the BMI musical theatre workshop as a composer. He currently has two shows in active development - DEVOTED, and LEGACY: THE BOOK OF NAMES. LEGACY will have a month long run in the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Selected orchestration/music/copyist assistant credits: Broadway: ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE, SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL. Chicago: HAMILTON, WAR PAINT, THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL. National tour: HAMILTON. Television: A CHRISTMAS STORY, LIVE!. Selected orchestration credits: IF SAND WERE STONE (NYMF, upcoming) 2017 Actors Fund Gala, Jagermeister Blaskapelle (US). Selected keyboard credits: Off-Broadway: FRIENDS, THE MUSICAL PARODY (Sub) PHARMABRO (Sub). www.jonathanbauerfeld.com
Anthony Brindisi (ORCHESTRATIONS) is a pianist, composer and conductor from Long Island, New York. His past credits include A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL (National Tour), FRIENDS: THE MUSICAL (Off-Broadway) where he was the Associate Conductor, as well as PHARMABRO (Off-Broadway) where he played keyboard and assisted in keyboard programming. Anthony is a proud member of the Lehman Engel BMI: Musical Theater Writing Workshop as a composer, and a graduate of Berklee College of Music. Thank you to my incredible family and friends for the support, and special thanks to Jon, I couldn’t have done this without you buddy! Congratulations to Sami and Amanda, two of the most inspiring people I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and here’s to Single Rider and every collaboration that comes after it!
press
“Altamont premieres Single Rider” - The Altamont School (2024)
“Single Rider, A New Musical, opens this weekend” - The Write Teachers (2018)
“Behind the scenes of Single Rider, A New Musical” - The Write Teachers (2018)
REVIEWS
"Get on line and experience the loop-the-loop of Single Rider." - Theater Pizzazz (2018)
"A sweet, charming, and romantic story" - Says Me, Says Mom (2018)
"WARNING: ‘Life in Color’ will be stuck in your head for DAYS." - The Knockturnal (2018)
DEVELOPMENT History
SINGLE RIDER was first developed in 2017 at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, where Sami Horneff and Amanda D’Archangelis were paired for the final project of the first year: The 10-Minute Musical. This abridged version of SINGLE RIDER was presented on June 5th, 2017, and inspired what became Act One of the full piece.
Sami and Amanda were subsequently offered the chance to expand the show into a full-length musical Off-Broadway at The Players Theatre in New York City. SINGLE RIDER opened on May 11th, 2018 and closed on June 17th after a successful limited six-week run. This production was directed by Allison Benko and choreographed by Sarah Crane, with music supervision by Anthony Brindisi and music direction by Jonathan Bauerfeld. Orchestrations by Brindisi and Bauerfeld were played by a six-piece band that included piano, guitar, bass, cello, violin, and drums. The cast of this world premiere production featured: Angela Sclafani as Abigail, Clay Singer as Shane, Alexis Floyd as Angela, Kelly Krauter as Sarah, Mary Malaney as Moira, Monica Ramirez as Nikki, Ben Salus as Larry, Andrew L. Ricci as Buster, Samantha Disney as Lollipop Lady, and Marc Cornes as Garrett.
In March 2019, SINGLE RIDER was performed as a staged reading by the Sophomore B.F.A Musical Theatre Class at The University of Alabama, as part of a newly developed “New Works” course. The students spent an entire semester studying the piece under the direction of Professor Justin Cowan. Also in 2019, songs from SINGLE RIDER were performed at the York Theatre Company in New York City as part of their New, Emerging, Outstanding (NEO) Concert Celebration.
In November 2024, SINGLE RIDER made its High School premiere at The Altamont School in Birmingham, AL, with over 30 student actors, student run crew, and student musicians. SINGLE RIDER won Best in Show at the District Trumbauer Competition, followed by Best in Show at the State Trumbauer Competition, which qualified it as Alabama’s inaugural entry in the Studio category at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in March 2025. Awards included: Best in Show for Single Rider; All Star Casting for Lottie Kanter as Abigail, Kaavya Karthikeyan as Angela, and Ali LeJeune as Moira; and 1st Place in the State (Lighting Design) for Andrew Herrin.
Audio
VIDEO
License Single Rider!
Please complete the form below to submit a request for licensing
Images from The Altamont School’s Production of Single Rider (2024) by Sean Flynt.