Fun shots below from Fury Theatre's very successful fundraiser, Bottom Shelf Theatre!
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Hey there!
I've been slacking on updates lately as I get caught up on life. So here's a quick run down on the latest.
Back from vacation and back into the swing of things!
I was just cast as Shoshanna (and others) in The Dreamchild Neverists, Dream Theatre Company's most ambitious show yet. Runs Mar 24-April 17, and this one is going to be a huge undertaking (and totally worth it). Fun fact - one of my characters is a pink vampire poodle, AKA "Vampoodle"! We'll be dealing in a fantastical world full of strange characters and we'll be creating all kinds of delightful feats of puppetry, projection, and theatrical magic to bring them to life. More details and ticket information will be available soon, check back at the Current Projects page. Meanwhile, my second spot for Innovative Express Care from last summer is now public! Check out the video here or on my Media - Commercials page. We had a little too much fun shooting different variations of my reaction shot in this - hope you enjoy! ;) The audio drama Iron Horses Can't Be Broken is nearly for launch! The first episodes are being made available in February, and I can't wait to hear our hard work come to fruition. In the meantime, checkout Burning Brigid Media's page and my cast interview. I think listeners are going to love this very original steampunk western adventure story. And finally, in an effort to continue building my strength and circus skills, I'll be taking a Circus Fitness course every Friday at the Actor's Gymnasium, next week through the end of March! I loved the Circus Arts Level 1 class I took, but it made me realize I definitely need to build up my strength in order to readily expand my circus skills. Ready to make 2016 mine, see you at the theatre! Yesterday I wrapped my part on Iron Horses Can't Be Broken with Burning Brigid Media. It's a little bittersweet, as it's been a truly delightful group to work with. Everyone was a total pro, and I was utterly impressed by the level of talent that came together to make this 11 episode audio-drama a reality. It's going to be a thrilling ride and I can't wait to share the podcast with everyone once it's live! Voiceover is definitely something I want to start doing a lot more of, if I can. It's totally convinced me that it's time to invest in a good home studio mic! Audience Annihilated 3: The Trouble With Angels closed last weekend as well (to awesome final Halloween loving audiences) so now I can focus 100% of my efforts on my next project, It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. You may be familiar with the Frank Capra film, but this rendition of the holiday favorite is performed in 1946 by a Manhattan radio station as a live radio play! The viewers become the live studio audience and will be prompted to laugh, cry, and applaud along as the actors create the characters and live sound effects on stage. There are even a couple "live commercial breaks" and complimentary cookies and hot cocoa for all audience members. I am Sally Applewhite, Miss Ohio 1943, fresh off the set of her latest Hollywood film, playing the role of Mary Hatch in the radio play. The entire cast, aside from my role, are returning from last year's acclaimed production. I am beyond thrilled to be stepping into the Sally Applewhite role and help continue this Oil Lamp Theater tradition - which is already selling tickets like gangbusters! OLT now features reserved seating, so I highly recommend getting tickets early so you get your pick of seats. Tickets can be purchased at OilLampTheater.org Use my special "Friends & Family" discount code "life" to get $5 off tickets! Hope to see you at the theater, friends! <3        Ah, October. One of my favorite times of year. I'm a summer lover, but fall has it's merits. Crisp days and changing leaves, pumpkin flavored everything, and of course....HALLOWEEN! My actor friends and I often joke that Halloween is "Actor Christmas" because we can go all out in crazy costumes, and everyone else is along for the ride too. Not to mention, many of us get the chance to scare the pants off our friends by working in various incarnations of haunted houses, horror shows, and so on.
This will mark my 3rd year performing in the Audience Annihilated series with Dream Theatre Company. For the uninitiated, Audience Annihilated is a part-haunted house, part-horror play that blurs the lines between audience and actor. Audience members have the option of playing the "lead" and interacting directly with the actors, or if you're too scared, you can watch from the safety of the gallery. This year we're performing "The Trouble with Angels", another original concept by Jeremy Menekseoglu. More info and tickets on my Current Projects page. I'm super excited for this one, as it touches on a lot of my personal fears, we've expanded the cast, and tickets are already selling fast. It's 1/2 the price of most haunted houses, and arguably a lot scarier - definitely check it out of you're a horror fan! Reservations are required due to the intimate nature of the performances. I'll have to switch gears next week - as I start rehearsing for It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play with Oil Lamp Theater in Glenview. Definitely a much more cheerful show ;) This will be a fun one for me, as I've worked with all but 1 member of the cast before, and they're an amazing bunch of people. Tickets are on sale now, and OLT now offers reserved seating! On a more personal note, October has also been quite dreamy, as on October 7th, my 7 year anniversary with my significant other Jonah, something pretty exciting happened.....we got engaged! In true theatrical fashion, he surprised me at a callback audition at Oil Lamp Theater, and even conspired with the theater director and some of the staff to pull it off. We're both super excited, and have planned a vacation to celebrate in January at Universal Studios Orlando (let's be honest, we're 90% going for Harry Potter World). I will be changing my name to Amanda Winston. Name changing is always an odd-thing in the actor world, as your name is your "brand". However, I think that Amanda Winston has a more unique ring to it than Amanda Meyer, and I won't need to carry my middle name to stand out for the 1,000's of Amanda Meyer's out there (there are tons of us....one was a math teach at my high school). While I have started to make a name for myself in the acting world, I don't think my brand will suffer much from making the switch to Amanda Winston. My inner feminist wants to say "you don't need to take his name", but what can I say, I like the name Winston! Have a Happy Halloween everyone, and I hope to see you at the theatre!
Rehearsals have also begun for Audience Annihilated 3: The Trouble With Angels, the next installment of Dream Theatre Company's intimate horror experience just in time for Halloween. As we keep saying in rehearsal, this show is "going to ruin people". It's pretty freaking messed up, and I don't scare easy. I like to describe it as "The Strangers" meetings "Going Clear." This is a very unique experience, I definitely recommend it for Halloween thrill seekers. I'll be playing the character "Drill". Tickets are now on sale! https://www.artful.ly/store/events/7190
Soon I hope to share an webisode of #SelfieGuy that I appeared in. It's a very goofy web series, and it was a lot of fun shooting with that group. We shot a couple spots, so hope to see that soon!
Check out the links below for some past #SelfieGuy videos!
It's going to be a busy Fall and Winter with the podcast, DTC's show, and then Oil Lamp Theater's It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (I'm playing Sally Applewhite/Mary).
More updates to come!  Announcement time! In light of an actor having to drop out, I have been promoted from "button pusher" to "Mrs. Heckwick/Prossie" in Dream Theatre Company's The Mechanical Man, to be performed at the Chicago Fringe Festival! While unexpected, this is exciting news, as many of you may have gathered, I'm a girl who likes to be on stage. This silent all-girl steampunk German Expressionist play is like nothing else you'll see in Chicago, let alone at the Chicago Fringe. We started rehearsing tonight, tried on some costumes, and I am already in love with this show. Anna Menekseoglu, Managing Director of Dream Theatre, actor, director, knitter, costumer, and podcaster extraordinaire, did a podcast interview with Vinnie Lacey, co-founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Fringe. Anna teases Mechanical Man, reveals the origins of Dream Theatre, plugs MEDEA currently running at DTC, and explains the wonders of yarn bombing the Fringe. Check out the podcast below! Opening weekend of Jeremy Menekseoglu's MEDEA with Dream Theatre Company was glorious. Thank you to our amazing audiences for helping us kick off this thing with a bang! Some production photos have been added to my MEDEA album courtesy of DTC Artistic Associate, #1 Fan, and Professional Audience Member, Marcia Clark! A couple other bonus photos in there as well.
Many many more chances to see MEDEA before we close! We run every Friday-Sunday @ 8pm through Sept. 14. No performances on Aug. 31 or Sept. 5. Tickets are $20. We take Cash & Credit Cards (Square) at the door. Reservations are strongly recommended as seating is limited to 28 seats per performance! 10 seats are available at Goldstar for 1/2 price every night, but they go fast! In other news, I will be helping out DTC in another venture, this time behind the scenes! I'll be the board operator (pressing buttons for lights/sound/projections) for the Chicago Fringe Festival performances of The Mechanical Man! This all-girl silent steampunk play is a truly unique experience not to miss, and I am super jazzed to even be a very small part of it. Check out details in my Current Projects section! Cheers, all! It is the FINAL WEEKEND of Come Blow Your Horn with Oil Lamp Theater. It's been a delightful ride, romping about in Neil Simon land. If you haven't seen the show yet, tickets are going fast but there are a handful of seats left for Thursday and Saturday (Sunday is sold out, and Friday is nearly sold out!). For $5 off, enter my "Friends & Family" code, "Horn" at: http://oillamptheater.org/current_season.php. Hope to see you there!
No rest for the wicked....next up, Jeremy Menekseoglu's MEDEA, opens Aug 8, and runs Fridays-Sundays at 8pm at Dream Theatre Company's the new Dream Laboratory space through September 14th! Tickets and more info can be found at: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/3790. I'll be playing the Princess of Corinth, Glauce, as she attempts to make peace with Medea.....and I think most of us know how that ends. Finally, I wanted to share a review of the work my very talented significant other and fellow actor, Jonah D. Winston. He is currently starring as Karl in Jedlicka Performing Arts Center's production of "Big Fish: The Musical". Chicago Theatre Beat Review: Big Fish (Jedlicka Performing Arts Center) Highlights: "also a knockout is Jonah D. Winston as Karl, the “giant” that Edward Bloom saves from a fearful populace. Winston has a gorgeous bass-baritone that we don’t get to hear enough of in this show." "Winston’s Karl captures the loneliness and warmth of the giant Edward saves." Congratulations, Jonah! Much deserved!! :) What's up after MEDEA? Who knows? Could be something brewing at Dream Theatre, we shall see where the wind will blow! 
This is a fundraiser event for MEDEA with Dream Theatre Company at our new space in Lincoln Square. It's our kickoff mainstage, and I'll be featured as "Glauce" when we open in August!
STRIKE OUT MEDEA! DON'T LET THE CHILDREN BE SACRIFICED! ALL YOU CAN BOWL & DRINK FOR ONLY $25! **For less than the price of 4 Venti Peppermint Mocha Frappuccinos – you can make a difference** EVERY PENNY HELPS! Join Dream Theatre’s quest to save two adorable twins by drinking, eating, bowling and preventing murder. @ Lincoln Square Lanes 4874 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625 (773) 561-8191 Wednesday, July 23 8-10pm $25 in advance; $30 at the door BUY TICKETS: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/3577 Even if the children are not saved there will still be LIVE BAND KARAOKE starting at 10pm DETAILS: Dream Theatre is hosting an event at Lincoln Square Lanes to help raise funds for our first main stage MEDEA at Dream Laboratory. Join us in celebrating our successful move and our exciting season. - For $25 ($30 @ the door) you’ll receive 2 hours of UNLIMITED bowling and domestic beers/house wine - Raffle tickets will be sold at the event. Make sure to enter for your chance to win some great prizes - Food will also be available for purchase while enjoying the festivities - Live Band Karaoke will begin at 10pm DTC is a 501(c)3 public charity arts organization that produces original and innovative plays in an intimate theatre in Chicago since 2002. If you can’t attend our event but would like to support our company, please consider donating via our website at www.dreamtheatrecompany.com |
News Photo by Tyler Core
Makeup by Khaki Pixley Amanda WinstonCome here for the latest on Amanda's projects, reviews, photos, and more! 
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