Amanda Stevens moved to Olympia in 2000. At first, she had trouble getting acting roles at local theaters. She took a break from acting, but when she met her husband, also an actor, he encouraged her to try out for an open role in a show he was in. She got the role, and the rest is history.
Her first show at Olympia Family Theater was “Charlotte’s Web.” She played a townsperson. After a few years of acting in shows, she joined the board to help shape Olympia Family Theater’s policies and to help them succeed. She loves being involved, although she is no longer on the board.
Among her favorite shows she’s been in are “Cinder Edna,” a piece written by locals Ted Ryle and Miriam Sterlin. It’s about Cinderella’s quirky neighbor and has an uplifting theme of female empowerment.
Stevens encourages people of all ages to go out and see more theater. “We get wrapped up in television shows and playing on social media, and it doesn’t really connect us to other people. Now more than ever we need to have those connections to the local community. The world is a negative place right now, it seems, and we need to find those connections that make you feel good,” she said.
The sense of community is strong for the actors as well. She explained that in each show, you form a tight-knit family with the other actors. Once that show ends, everyone goes their own way and forms another family in the next show. “So now, it’s like I have a network of a huge family in Olympia. It’s great to come together and work on something and produce something together,” Stevens said.
She loves the relationship between the actors and audience, especially with the kids who go see the shows. “Kids’ imaginations run wild, and they get so caught up in the shows they talk back sometimes, which is charming.” She said it’s a good challenge for the actors to stay in character. After shows, kids can come meet the performers in costume. It’s a great place to introduce children to theater. “Maybe we’ll inspire them to go see more theater, or read more stories,” Stevens said.
Olympia Family Theater offers a “Let’s Play” series of shows for younger kids. These shows run around 30 minutes and are pared down adaptions of classic fairytales. They also have a group that goes out to schools and performs and they offer after-school programs and winter and summer break camps for children aged 7-13. Kids involved in theater learn independence and responsibility skills, according to Stevens.
Mainstage shows are primarily for adult actors, although there’s usually one show a year that is open to actors of all ages.
Aside from theater, which takes up most of her time, Stevens works at TwinStar Credit Union as a community development manager. She spends a lot of her work time going into classrooms and teaching students about financial literacy. “It’s fun to be able to use that side of my creativity in my job,” Stevens said. “I get to find creative ways to get the word out about financial literacy.”
Interested in being in a show? The Olympia Actors League (OAL) is a Facebook group that will help you get connected with local directors. They hold open auditions at which actors perform a song or monologue to show off their skills. Directors will then call back any actors they have roles for. Olympia Family Theater also holds their own auditions for their mainstage productions. “Many people audition for the first time at OALs [auditions] and are cast in a show,” Stevens said.
For more information about showings, visit Olympia Family Theater’s website.
