Amy Oestreicher Brings One-Woman Musical and Keynote Presentation to Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance Conference

Following sold-out runs at theatres nationwide and headlining international conferences, TEDx Speaker and award-winning actress/playwright Amy Oestreicher will bring excerpts of her hit one-woman musical Gutless & Grateful to Honolulu as the keynote presentation at this year's The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance Conference on January 14th at Columbia University. In this inspirational keynote, "Post Traumatic Gifts," performer Amy Oestreicher shares a a powerful message that it's possible to overcome physical and mental health obstacles through interwoven song and dialogue in a primal piece of live storytelling.

Based in part on Amy's personal experience surviving ten years of medical interventions, sexual abuse and thriving through theatre and creative expression, Post Traumatic Gifts is a program combining storytelling, participatory discussion, creativity, musical performance and a keynote speech.

"As the granddaughter of holocaust survivors, I relied their strength and spirit in order to survive," Amy says of the inspiration for "Post Traumatic Gifts," which is now part of the official directory fof the National Initiative for Arts and Health in the Military. "Theatre helped me turn adversity and trauma into resilience and spiritual growth."

In 2012, she wrote, directed, and starred in a one-woman musical about her life, Gutless & Grateful, touring theatres across the country for four years, and earning rave reviews and accolades since its BroadwayWorld Award-nominated NYC debut. Finding the gifts of a traumatic experience, Amy calls the past ten years a "beautiful detour," and gave a TEDx Talk on life as a "Detourist." Determined to help give a voice to survivors, Amy devised a program that combines Broadway theatre with and mental health advocacy and sexual assault awareness, providing hope, help and resources through theatrical performance and expressive arts workshops.

Having spent the first half of the year at the acclaimed Eugene O 'Neill Center through the National Theatre Institute, Amy is currently developing Flicker and a Firestarter, a full-length drama based on her own family's survival in the ICU, centering on the themes of Passover. Of sharing her story through theatre, Oestreicher comments, "Theatre engages both the creator and audience in a vital conversation for society. I couldn't imagine more empowering way to communicate such difficult, but important topics. There's something we all can learn from adversity. Theatre is the great equalizer."

This year's JOFA Conference is sponsored by The Columbia / Barnard Hillel and the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, and is the premier destination for over 1,000 leaders wishing to explore the intersection of feminist ideals with critical facets of their religious experiences, including race, sexuality, family, and political structures. JOFA expands the spiritual, ritual, intellectual and political opportunities for women within the framework of Jewish law, by advocating meaningful participation and equality for women, to enrich and uplift the entire Jewish people.

Oestreicher also looks forward to bringing Gutless & Grateful back to New York in February at the Metropolitan Room, and in June at 54 Below.

See Oestreicher perform and present "Post Traumatic Gifts" Saturday January 14, 2017 8:00pm - 9:30pm , at The Kraft Center , Columbia University, 606 West 115th Street, New York, NY 10025. More information at https://amyoes.com/event/jofa/

Registration closes on January 6th. You can register at https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E115801&id=8