Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Sweeney.
Hi Amy , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was four years old, my mom took me to a puppet show at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. I don’t remember the exact title, but I do remember a blacklight ocean scene with lots of fish and sea creatures. After the show, the puppeteers came out and talked to the audience about how they did the show. I was astounded that people did that for a living! Fast forward to high school, I auditioned for a musical because one of my friends asked me to as a support for her. I wasn’t looking to become a performer (my Dad was an actor, but I was pretty introverted), but I thought it might be fun, so I gave it go. I was cast in the show and I found out that performing was something that brought me out of myself. I quickly learned that theatre was a great place to put my other skills to the test. I got to act, sing, write, paint, sew (my Mom, the seamstress, had taught me), construct set pieces, as well as direct. I was lucky enough to score a scholarship and get my Bachelor’s in Theatre from Gainesville Theatre Alliance. I remember I really wanted to create a puppet piece for my senior thesis, because puppets still fascinated me, but alas I didn’t have the time. After I graduated, I started looking for jobs.
Even though I did a lot of acting in college, I decided to try to find work in tech theatre. I had jobs ranging from ticket sales assistant (at the Center for Puppetry Arts, funny enough), stage manager, lighting technician, wardrobe assistant, wig designer, set painter, and stagehand. These jobs brought me to Orlando, FL, but I wasn’t making much money, so I decided to go back to school and get an Associates in Web Design. The day I graduated, my career coach asked me if I had any interest in interviewing and auditioning for a puppet troupe that served the Metro Orlando area. I found this very humorous considering I had just spent a year and a half getting a degree away from theatre, but I decided to go. Little did I know I was going to meet someone who would change the course of my life.
Jamie Donmoyer, a lady who worked all around Orlando in the world of puppetry, met me after I accepted the job to the City of Orlando Puppetroupe. Yes, the government ran a Puppetroupe for underserved communities in the area. She and I hit it off immediately, and she told me of another opportunity at Pinocchio’s Marionette Theatre. I was soon hired there, too.
I started learning hand and rod puppetry from Jamie and her husband James, and I learned marionette manipulation from David Eaton, former Bozo the Clown from Chicago. Also, I worked with Pady Blackwood, a former puppeteer of Howdy Doody. Jamie also convinced me to audition for the Walt Disney World Resort. I tried out. I remember sitting in the room, after the audition, and people left one by one. Finally, I was the only one remaining and the director called me over. She said, “You are the only one I have good news for today.” I made it! I became a puppeteer for the Festival of the Lion King and a character performer.
Through Jamie, I also got invited to send in a video with a group of Orlando puppeteers as an audition for “It’s a Big Big World.” We got called in for an in person audition and I was even called back. It was a wonderful experience, even though I didn’t land the gig. I met lots of puppeteers and felt like I had found my people.
During all of this, Jamie said, “Hey why don’t we create our own company?” Am-Jam Productions was born. She and I had a blast writing scripts together and building small shows that could tour to libraries and birthday parties. I still remember doing one of shows at a party while Jamie was at the hospital about to give birth to her first child. She kept checking up on us until I finally told her to go have a baby. She is so dedicated and wonderful!
I had eight wonderful years with the Puppetroupe and Pinocchio’s, and then I got a call from my buddy Bill Jones, who was the technical director for the Center for Puppetry Arts at the time. He told me they were looking to hire a puppeteer for their production of Winnie the Pooh and that I should come up and give it a try. So I did! . I went up, marionette in hand, and auditioned for the show. I was hired. My first role at the Center was performing the legs of Winnie the Pooh with Luis Hernandez as the head and body. Fancy, huh? I loved every second of it except when Pooh’s leg fell off mid show, but we had a good laugh later. Believe me, I could tell you some very entertaining “appendages falling off stories” from my puppet years or about the time I fell off a marionette bridge, but I won’t bore you.
I worked at the Center for Puppetry Arts for eighteen years performing such wonderful characters as Cinderella, Molly the Mermaid, Alice the Dog, Little Noodle, Rudolph, Clarice, Scorpiana, Eema the Alien, Mrs. Duriel, Auntie Archaeopteryx, and so many more. I even stepped in for guest artists when things didn’t go according to plan.
Some of my favorite pieces were directed by guest directors. I was part of a wonderful trio who performed and voiced the octopus Akashi in Nephrii Ameni’s Human. I got to perform a baby elephant named Little in the beautiful production of Aanika’s Elephants. I was also so happy to step in for a Torbeck sibling (from Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers) for their production of The Headless Horseman of Silly Hollow.
I also found out that I had a passion for teaching, especially through the Center’s Digital Learning Department. There I could take students through different workshops, whether they were about spiders or healthy habits. I also got to perform one person puppet shows, which gave me a whole new respect for those performers that perform that way on the regular. I taught kids from all over and it was a blast!
I met my husband while working at the Center, although we didn’t meet while working together. He had worked there years before I started but had moved out to California. When he came back, he and I met after a show I was performing with Michael Haverty’s Haverty Marionettes called The Phantom Limb. We started dating and soon after he came to work for the Center. We were known as that Puppet Power Couple, which makes me giggle.
While I was performing at the Center, I was asked to start directing shows for younger children. This is where my passion truly lies. I love Theatre for the Very Young (ages 0-4) and thrived when I created shows for this audience. During this time, I also gave birth to my two lovely daughters, Elora and Stella. They provided so much inspiration! I went on to direct over a dozen shows, a couple of them I was asked to write, myself. I was honored to win several Suzis for the shows I wrote and created (Directing and Ensemble).
As I expanded my world outside the Center, I started to look for new puppeteers. I was lucky enough to discover many amazing performers who were lovely enough to come over and audition. I was always on the lookout for those folks who had a good work ethic, a sweet personality, and the hunger to learn something new. Jimmica Collins, Chris McKnight, Evan Hill Phillips, Kristin Storla, and several others have now graced the stage at the Center, and I couldn’t be more “Mama Bear” proud of them!
The Center will always hold a very near and dear place in my heart. I created and learned so much there. Now I have moved on to working for my family and myself. I’ve performed some pieces for companies for YouTube and I have also started to do illustrations for coloring books and storybooks. I’m really excited for any adventure that comes my way, as long as it’s creative.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been smooth, for sure. There is always a struggle in theatre in general for good communication and a healthy happy work environment. Some decisions are made without the performers or creators in mind, and that can lead to a lot of frustration.
The good thing is there are people that are there to fight for those things, and I think improvements are being made every day.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a creative content creator. What that means to me is that I live to create, whether it’s a puppet show performance, an illustration piece, a story, or an animation. I love to create, especially for children and families. I continually want to make a moment for someone to live in with their loved ones. When your little one looks at you smiling because they’ve just seen a puppet for the first time, o when they recognize a word or animal and get super excited about it, I live for that. You only have so many moments to share, that’s why I want to create as many as I can while I’m here.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I really love reading funny fantasy stories like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series. They look on the humorous side of life, and that’s what I strive to do. I also like to read biographies of people I admire. I just read Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography by Jessica Max Stein and Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds. Their stories tell of extremely talented uplifted performers who went through a lot in their life, but still kept their quick wit and humor alive. I hope to do the same.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyelizsweeney_illustrates/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amyelizabethsweeney
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-sweeney-7997462a7/
- Other: http://amyelizsweeney.myportfolio.com
