About Amanda
Amanda Huotari (pronounced hoot-er-ee) is a 7th generation Mainer, born and raised in the town of South Paris. She is an actress, teaching artist and Executive Director of Celebration Barn Theater, Maine's international center for creating original theater. With a BFA in acting from Emerson College, Mandy also studied physical theater at the Lecoq School in Paris, France, and is a graduate of the International School of Comic Acting is Reggio Emilia, Italy. Since 2001, she has been collaborating with Mike Miclon and Fritz Grobe at the Oddfellow Theater. She's now in her 8th season performing Add Verb Productions one woman show, The Thin Line. Her own solo work has been featured at the New York Clown Theatre Festival, Phyzgig Festival, Seattle's Moisture Festival, and is now touring. Mandy teaches workshops in schools as an artist in residence with the Maine Alliance of Arts Education.
Growing up down the road from
Celebration Barn Theater,
Mandy's formal theater education began at the age of 13. As a teenager, she spent summers studying movement, collaboration and clowning, alongside diverse touring artists. Influenced by master teachers including Tony Montanaro (The Barn's Founder), Avner Eisenberg, Julie Goell, Keith Johnstone, and Laurie Carlos, Celebration Barn continues to be her creative home.
While earning a BFA in Acting from Emerson College in Boston, Mandy spent late-nights writing sketches and performing improv with the comedy troupe, This Is Pathetic. After graduation, while working with San Francisco Mime Troupe, she got increasingly interested in mask theater. This lead her to study at the Scuola Internazionale Dell'Attore Comico, where Commedia dell'Arte master Antonio Fava branded her performance style, "ferociously sweet."
Upon returning to Maine, Mandy reconnected with friends from Celebration Barn. Joining forces with Mike Miclon and Fritz Grobe, the eccentric trio became The Odd Company and toured several productions throughout New England. During this time Mandy also started touring Add Verb Productions' one-woman show, The Thin Line and began working in high schools as a teaching artist with the Maine Alliance of Arts Education.
She spent 2005-06 in Paris, France at the Lecoq School studying theater creation. After her next homecoming, Mandy became Executive Director of Celebration Barn Theater in 2007. In collaboration with Italian writer/director Fabrizio Paladin, she produced and co-starred in the commedia dell'arte-styled two-person show, The Exhausting Affairs of Love. In 2007 she also debuted of her solo show, The Soirée, an unconventional comedy directed by Avner Eisenberg and made possible with support from the Maine Arts Commission.
Mandy's solo performances have been presented at The New York Clown-Theatre Festival, The Orlando Fringe, NY Downtown Clown Revue, Seattle's Moisture Festival and in Bogota, Colombia at Teatro R101.
What's next? The two exciting new shows that previewed in 2011 will begin touring in 2012. The Colombian/American collaboration, The Fabulous Problemas, is on the road this spring. Celebration Ensemble's first full length original show, Thumbs Up, premieres at the Portland Performing Arts Festival in June. Stay tuned for details!