Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Amy
Amy Holson-Schwartz is an award-winning playwright and theatre producer. Her play, Can I Really Date A Guy Who Wears A Yarmulke? premiered to sold-out houses as part of the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival, winning the Producers' Award. It subsequently transferred to The Knitting Factory Brooklyn, the first play to perform at the celebrated music venue. Since then, ...Yarmulke has been produced at the University of Delaware, Teatron Theatre of Toronto, Canada, and the Stage One Festival, Jerusalem, Israel. She is also the writer of The Legend of King Arthur (Bare Bones Ensemble). In 2014, Amy will serve as Artistic Director of J-Fest, a new community-based festival of Jewish theatre and entertainment. Producing credits include Ludwig Live! (Lenox, MA, USA, Leicester Square Theatre, London UK, Brighton Fringe, UK), The News In Revue (Queens Theatre In The Park, Queens, NY, USA and Killington, VT, USA), Parenting 101 (Emelin Theatre, Mamaroneck, NY, USA and The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA), and multiple readings and a demo recording of The Nutcracker. Amy is the co-Founder and Executive Director of Festival Arts and served as General Manager of The Mekka Collective. She was Administrative Associate at Amas Musical Theatre, Assistant to the Producer at Gorgeous Entertainment, and General Management Assistant on the Broadway show The Blonde in the Thunderbird. She also worked for Dreamworks Theatrical Marketing and experiential marketing firm Gigunda Group International. She currently holds the title of Associate Producer for Peaceful Lion Productions in London, UK.
Amy grew up in Westport, Connecticut, where she attended the Westport public schools. In 1996, she was received the first of what was to be a series of differing learning disability diagnoses. Despite this, she graduated from Staples High School, winning awards for leadership in computer science and performing with highly-respected drama club the Staples Players. Though she received a scholarship to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, she left after a semester, seeking a more academic course of study. Amy subsequently attended Norwalk Community College, where she was an Archeology as an Avocation major before transferring to Landmark College in Putney, VT. At Landmark, Amy was active in clubs and societies. She was elected secretary of the Landmark chapter of the prestigious Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, served in the Student Government, and co-founded the Political Awareness Club, registering over one hundred students to vote in the 2004 presidential election. She earned an Honorable Mention for achievement in coursework in the Education department. From Landmark, Amy transferred to Eugene Lang College The New School For Liberal Arts, where she earned a Bachelors of Arts with concentrations in Theatre and Religious Studies (thesis: “Medieval Mystery Plays and the Protestant Reformation in England, Focusing on the Grocer’s Play of the Fall of Man from the Norwich Cycle”).
She has attended the Commercial Theatre Institute and events at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. She was also a member of the TRU Mentorship Program. In 2012, she completed a MA in Theatre Studies: Performance and the City from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England (thesis: “The Past is Prologue: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Interculturalism Then and Now”). Amy is currently enrolled in Central's PhD program, where she is undertaking a three-year project on interculturalism and the transatlantic transfer of the commercial musical.
Amy grew up in Westport, Connecticut, where she attended the Westport public schools. In 1996, she was received the first of what was to be a series of differing learning disability diagnoses. Despite this, she graduated from Staples High School, winning awards for leadership in computer science and performing with highly-respected drama club the Staples Players. Though she received a scholarship to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, she left after a semester, seeking a more academic course of study. Amy subsequently attended Norwalk Community College, where she was an Archeology as an Avocation major before transferring to Landmark College in Putney, VT. At Landmark, Amy was active in clubs and societies. She was elected secretary of the Landmark chapter of the prestigious Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, served in the Student Government, and co-founded the Political Awareness Club, registering over one hundred students to vote in the 2004 presidential election. She earned an Honorable Mention for achievement in coursework in the Education department. From Landmark, Amy transferred to Eugene Lang College The New School For Liberal Arts, where she earned a Bachelors of Arts with concentrations in Theatre and Religious Studies (thesis: “Medieval Mystery Plays and the Protestant Reformation in England, Focusing on the Grocer’s Play of the Fall of Man from the Norwich Cycle”).
She has attended the Commercial Theatre Institute and events at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. She was also a member of the TRU Mentorship Program. In 2012, she completed a MA in Theatre Studies: Performance and the City from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England (thesis: “The Past is Prologue: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Interculturalism Then and Now”). Amy is currently enrolled in Central's PhD program, where she is undertaking a three-year project on interculturalism and the transatlantic transfer of the commercial musical.