Big news! I am now officially represented by Dream Team Talent. Dream Team is a great newer agency in the Chicago area which also produces an industry podcast and is soon spreading its wings to LA. Vilma, the agency owner, is such a delightful person and truly advocates for her talent. I can't wait to see what we're able to accomplish together in 2020 and beyond! 

The Dining Room has ended (5th best selling show of all time at Oil Lamp Theater!) and now I have something fun to show you - the short student film from last year I starred in has finally been released! Check out "Meanwhile Drive" written/directed by Abdullah Azizi, below.  Now also on my Film Shorts page.

Also, I just finished editing together my voiceover demo! Check it out on my Voiceover page or hit the play button below.

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.

• The Curse on Mordrake House was a hit at the Chicago Fringe - we sold out several houses and were one of the best selling shows of this year's festival!
• I had a blast with my Chicago directing debut of El Words by Elizabeth Archer, part of the Short Attention Span Theatre Festival with Fury Theatre. So much love to my cast for an amazing experience and making our piece truly sing.
• I'm acting in a staged reading, and now also directing a piece as well for the Stockyards Theatre Project at the Greenhouse Theatre Center this Tuesday at 7pm! It's a free reading that is the culmination of several writing workshops aimed at developing strong female characters. I'll be playing Ani in Shooting the Moon by Tanise Robnett, and directing Intensive Supervision by Alif Muhammad, both with Talif Productions. Each play or monologue presented will be followed by a Q&A to provide the writers with feedback.
• Episodes of Cold Reboot have started trickling onto the soundwaves with the Synesthesia Theatre podcast, a Burning Brigid Media production. Listen for yours truly as Nurse Carol in episodes 4 & 5! 
• You'll see me on stage at the Oil Lamp Theater again this January, as I join the cast of The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney. Each actor takes on between 8-10 different characters as we see vignettes of life throughout the years in the same dining room of a single home. Tickets on sale now!
• And wedding planning continues! I've slowed down my theatre activities a bit to try and get as much planning finished as possible, but will be back full steam as soon as possible.

Cheers all! Go make or partake in some art!

We've got a great show on our hands! The Curse on Mordrake House is officially open and we nearly sold out our first two performances at the 2016 Chicago Fringe. 3 more shows to go, and now we've got a stellar review to go with it. Come check us out before we run out of time or seats! 

Remaining performances:
Sunday Sept 4 at 10pm
Monday Sept 5 at 5:30pm (Labor Day!)
Friday Sept 9 at 7pm

Buy tickets at ChicagoFringe.org


Review: Claire Zajdel, Fringebiscuit.co.uk

"The Barebones Theatre Company stuns in their Chicago Fringe production of The Curse on Mordrake House, a supernatural horror about a Summer Walker’s (gypsy) curse on the children of Sir Mordrake, an apathetic, self-important aristocrat. All three of his children fall victim to macabre supernatural forces in The company’s dynamic energy and tight acting make this an exciting and unmissable theatrical experience.
Set in 19th century rural England, playwright Dan Jackson nods to the Bard by writing in elevated iambic pentameter. Jackson’s verse is both enthralling and insightful, setting rich and complex groundwork for chilling yet truthful theatre. The no set and a few props, Barebones lives up to its name, leaving the storytelling up to the precise writing and complicated characters.
Raphael Schwartzman’s direction is eerie and intricate, setting each creature and demon in this twisted world apart by its physicality and speech pattern. Quinn Leary captivates as a slimy underworldly demon, while Amanda Lynn Meyer brings sincerity with her sympathetic yet aggressive monster known as a bogart. The entire cast is more than applaudable in a thriller that sparks an otherworldly discussion of morality is both extraordinary and specifically human.
The Curse on Mordrake House is playing at The Gift Theatre Sept. 4 @ 10pm, Sept. 5 @ 5:30pm, and Sept. 9 @ 7pm. "

​Apologies for the lack up updates - there's been a lot going on! 

Here are the big highlights:

• This is the FINAL WEEKEND for Olive and the Mouse Spider King at Dream Theatre Company. Seating is very limited so I urge you to reserve in advance now! Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/8709 for Thursday - Sunday performances
  • ​Limited GoldStar discount tickets available as well!
  • On a sad note, this will be Dream Theatre Company's final show in Chicago for the foreseeable future. I urge you to read the heartfelt letter from our artistic and managing directors at dreamtheatrecompany.com. It's been a dream to work with this company and create the kind of art the commercial and mainstream theatre world often shies away from. I shall miss this bold imaginative work, and wish Anna and Jeremy all the best as they embark on new adventures. 
• Episode SIX of Iron Horses Can't Be Broken is now available! Be sure to subscribe, download, rate and review on iTunes! Only 5 episodes before the dramatic conclusion.  This is the first episode I actually don't make an appearance in (I was in episodes 1-5), but don't worry, Florence Bartleby isn't done yet ;)
• Recently finished a project for Ajenda Scheduling Services, recording audio to help promote their scheduling app. Find a short clip from that recording in my Voiceovers demo section. 
• I will be taking part in a new play reading series called Studies Saturni with Talif Productions. On May 21st at the Theatre Momentum space, come see a staged reading of Pritchard's on Fire, where I will be playing the antagonist Harry/Harriet.  More details once we get closer to the reading!

And in personal news.....

Jonah and I have signed a new lease in Chicago in the West Edgewater neighborhood, AND we recently had to replace one of our cars.  So the two of us with our two Honda's, Hank and Rhonda, will be moving in the next month before Jonah leaves for Normal, Illinois to perform in the Illinois Shakespeare Festival through mid August.  Meanwhile, I have a wedding to plan.....  sleep is for the weak!!!!

​<3

It is officially New Year's Eve, folks! I tend to be a "always look forward" kind of person, but at the end of the year I like to reflect on where I've been to remind me how much further I can go.

So what happened in 2015?

• ​Performed the silent steampunk all-girl play, The Mechanical Man at the Midwinter Gaming Convention - which included my first trip to Wisconsin!
• Began working full-time as a Project Manager and left my previous job at Adagio Teas
• Played a conjoined twin in the freakish Devilish Children with Dream Theatre Company
• Shot 2 hilarious commercials for Innovative Express Care in Lincoln Park
• Completed Intro to Circus Arts 1 at the Actors Gymnasium - and improved a whole slew of skills
• Overhauled the website -- again
• Bought a new car - Rhonda the Honda!
• Joined a summer beach yoga group and beach volleyball team
• Scared people sh!tless with Dream Theatre Company's The Trouble With Angels where I got to menace audiences with a drill.
• Saw my lovely friends Linda and Bobby tie the knot in Sturgeon Bay - Wisconsin trip #2!
• Shot a webisode for #SelfieGuy, and met some awesome new motivated people
• Started a page for voiceover work, and subsequently got cast and recorded several episodes for Iron Horses Can't Be Broken, the new audio drama podcast to be released soon
• Got engaged to my love of 7 years, Jonah Winston (he proposed on stage, at Oil Lamp Theater!)
• Shot a Doritos Commercial contest entry playing a Doritos obsessed couple....with my new fiancé!
• Nerded out hard on Star Wars and saw The Force Awakens in theaters twice by Christmas
• Saw a real live baby sloth for the first time - and almost died from the cuteness
• Got my Christmas cheer on playing Sally Applewhite/Mary in It's a Wonderful Life: The Live Radio Play - which completely sold out it's final 2 weekends! I also had the honor of introducing my baby niece to her first ever play experience. 

So what's next in 2016? Hard to say of course. I know I'm looking forward to Jonah and I's vacation to Orlando in a week (we've never been on a REAL vacation together). I'll be learning the details of what my role may be with Dream Theatre Company's next mainstage production sometime in January, and I plan to make some serious announcements in early 2016, rebranding as Amanda Winston and beginning a serious search for representation. Not to mention - - I have a wedding to plan! I'd also love to take another class at Black Box Acting studio and the Actor's Gymnasium. My biggest goal for myself in 2016 is to be open and prepared for whatever strange and crazy opportunities life may throw my way.

Onward and upward - Happy New Year!

Awesome opening weekend of Audience Annihilated 3: The Trouble with Angels -and we're HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by NewCity Stage! It's so much fun terrifying audiences - I only hope I can get the fake blood out of my clothes :) See below the break for the full text review.

Other recent developments:

Colee Wong, friend and former coworker, asked Amanda and her fiancé Jonah to appear in her team's entry into the Doritos Commercial Contest. We were tickled to appear as a young couple falling in love over our shared passion for Doritos. It was a ton of fun of fun to shoot, and thanks to Leo, our DP, and Max, who filled in as the sound engineer. Now we have a bunch of leftover Doritos to eat...

Also, Amanda's 1st appearance in the #SelfieGuy series is now on the Media - Film Shorts page. She'll be shooting another #SelfieGuy video in November, and will appear in at least on more after that. This is a fun goofy group, and I hope to work with these guys more in the future. 

More news to come!

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!

New photos of Medea here and Mechanical Man here!

ONLY 2 WEEKENDS LEFT!
MEDEA - the epic tale continues at DREAM LABORATORY
PURCHASE TICKETS
MEDEA must close September 14th. Tickets are still available for the last two weekends. 5 more performances play on September 6, 7, 12, 13 & 14. Closing weekend is expected to sell out quickly and seats are limited in our intimate storefront space. *No performance Sept. 5*

Don't miss you chance to see the show critics have claimed, "is like nothing else you'll see on a local stage." As Medea, "Martindale is outstanding" and "Jeremy Menekseoglu's range is impressive" and "the language rich and powerful."THE BUZZ ABOUT MEDEA:
Chicago Theatre Beat: 3/4 Stars
NewCityStage: Recommended
EDGE Media Chicago: Recommended
Chicago Reader: Recommended
DTC Audience Member Letter

 THE MECHANICAL MAN This all-girl, silent, steampunk play full of debauchery, revenge and insanity tells the  of the struggle between an inventor's scientific obsession and his daughter's innocent connection to the virtues of humanity. The audience is transported into a dark world reminiscent of turn of the century silent film. 
FINAL 2 PERFORMANCES
Thursday 9/4 @ 10:00pm
Friday 9/5 @ 7:00pm
PURCHASE TICKETS

CHICAGO FRINGE FESTIVAL
Ketchup-less Stage
(The Gift Theatre)
Located at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave
more info: www.chicagofringe.org