Student Profile: Amanda Hill

Amanda Hill wrote a play for Theatre for Young Audience called Dancing and the international organization "Write Local. Play Global." selected it to be read at the One Theater World Conference in Cleveland this May. This is a great honor and Amanda is very excited about it, but in the meantime, she is hard at work at theatre UCF as the Assistant Scenic Designer for Eurydice.

Scenic design is a new field for Amanda: she got her bachelor's degree in performance at Susquehanna University and currently works as a teaching artist and house manager for the Orlando Repertory Theatre. Faculty member and Eurydice Scenic Designer Vandy Wood is helping Amanda through the process.

The most complex project was her design of the water pump. "I don't want to give too much away, but there were definitely hula hoops involved in this design." Amanda wanted to create something that the actors could interact with in many different ways throughout the course of the play.

Amanda is completing her third year in the MFA Theatre for Young Audiences program. Last summer, she traveled around Southeast Alaska working with girls in rural areas. She spends a lot of time working with disadvantaged youth in the Orlando area to help them find their artistic voices and positive self-image. Amanda hopes to be a college professor when she graduates.

By: Elle Sullivan