Cancel culture meets musical theater. What could go wrong?
A group of conservative theater artists gather in a secluded cabin in rural Georgia with an unlikely mission: to reclaim their place in the American performing arts.

American Theater is a daring, real-life documentary that follows a dismissed director and his new ensemble as they create an original musical based on the Salem witch trials. What begins as a creative experiment unfolds into a tense, often surprising exploration of belief, identity, and the role of art in an increasingly divided country.

Directors Nicholas Clark and Dylan Frederick embed the audience deep within this rehearsal process, capturing moments of vulnerability, conviction, and contradiction. Rather than taking sides, the film listens—closely and unflinchingly—as its subjects reckon with rejection, purpose, and the meaning of artistic freedom.

As the first feature film ever presented at Emberlight, American Theater sets the stage for bold conversations and brave storytelling. This is a film that invites discomfort—and demands attention.