The Center at West Park Presents
enduring atlas
Presented as part of the CWP Evolution Festival
Thursday, September 10, 2026 @ 7:00 PM
The Sanctuary at St. Paul & St. Andrew
263 W. 86th Street, New York, NY 10024
Set in the 1970s at the height of NASA’s outer-planet ambitions, Enduring Atlas follows a brilliant project lead, a gifted artist, and a rising scientist as a groundbreaking mission expands beyond control, testing their relationships, ambitions, and everything they thought they were building as it begins to shift.
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Set in the 1970s at the height of NASA’s outer-planet ambitions, Enduring Atlas follows Grant, the brilliant but increasingly consumed project lead; Nina, a gifted artist who has left her life behind to support him; and Amy, a rising scientist whose unconventional spark helps push the mission far beyond its original scope.
As the project evolves from a single-planet probe into a history-making journey across the solar system, the pressures around Grant intensify, pulling Nina and Amy into an orbit of shifting loyalties, unspoken desire, and deepening loneliness. Careers accelerate. A marriage strains. A crucial discovery rearranges everything they believed their lives would be.
Cast & Creative Team
Playwright: Jacqueline Bircher
Director/Producer: Shannon Molly Flynn
Producer/Amy: Ella Smith
Choreographer: Devin Tyler Hatch
Composer: Zack Pierson
About the Lead Artists
Jacqueline Bircher (Playwright) is the playwright of Another Revolution, Webster’s Bitch, Enduring Atlas, The Once and Future Casey Colman, and The Rule of Thirds. Her work has been produced by Gulfshore Playhouse, the Keegan Theatre, Constellation Stage, Playhouse on Park, Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Phoenix Theatre Company, and the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival, among others. She is the recipient of the Woodward/Newman Award for Drama and City Theatre’s National Award for Short Playwriting, and has been a finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Lark, Seven Devils, and NNPN. She studied at Oxford University and Fordham University.
Shannon Molly Flynn (Dir/Prod.) is a New York-based director, producer, and the Founding Artistic Director of Normal Ave. Her directing credits include the critically acclaimed Sons of the Prophet and The Dream of the Burning Boy, and she is currently developing the new musical S.I.M.P.S.. She also serves on the producing team at PAC NYC as Associate Producer / Assistant Company Manager. Shannon’s work is defined by an emphasis on collaborative process, artist-centered development, and storytelling that invites vulnerability, imagination, and shared ownership.
Ella Smith (AMY/Prod.) is a Brooklyn-based actor and producer. Most recent producing credits include short films: The Man Who Hates Improv, Don’t Look Back, The Spanish Lesson, as well as staged productions such as More Than All the Sky (a concert series) and Making Up. Most notably, the award-winning miniseries This is B.S., which was licensed by Broadstream streaming platform. As an actor, Ella has performed locally and regionally at Winnipesauke Playhouse, Bagaduce Theater, Valley Shakespeare Festival, Shakesperience, and more. TV credits include Pose (FX) and The Deuce (HBO).