Women Today

Women magazine portrays area actors and their continuous growth and love for the art of acting in its Women Who Inspire feature. Today we feature Amanda Petersen-Fails:

Amanda Petersen-Fails
Menasha
Day job: Customer care advocate at School Specialty, Greenville

What made you get into acting? My cousins, my sister and I used to force our parents to watch our amateur theatricals from a very young age.
These included such gems as "Gone with the Wind, Part Two" and "1495 Dracula Drive," which we wrote, directed, staged, and, of course, starred in.
Our house was very loud and musical and it was just the natural progression of things. Through high school and community theatre, I was encouraged to go to UW-Stevens Point where I received my bachelor’s of fine arts degree in musical theatre.

What was your most recent role? In February 2009, I was in “The Vagina Monologues” at UW-Fox Valley and I did the "Little Coochie-Snorcher That Could" monologue. Before that, I was Rita Ravitch in Attic's “Suburb” in summer 2008.

What has been your most exciting acting experience? Each experience has its exciting moments.
I grew the most when I was in “Julius Caesar” at UW-Stevens Point. Learning to perform Shakespeare was grueling, but incredibly rewarding.
Another exciting experience was performing the role of Perchance Talbot in “The Spitfire Grill” with Attic Theatre.
That was the first show I did outside of my high school theatre group. Just being cast in the first place was exciting, but then to be able to perform with such a talented cast and crew, and a wonderful director and production team, was truly a thrill.

If you could change one thing about acting, what would it be? The fine arts in general deserve more public funding. The arts in school are sadly underfunded.
In terms of acting, from a professional standpoint, I think that it's unfortunate that it seems to be more and more about who you know rather than your talent and ambition.

What advice do you have for aspiring actors? Take every kind of lesson you possibly can, as soon as you can, for as long as you can: dance, speech, voice, movement, tumbling, stage combat... because everything is useful on stage.

Is it tough to be an actress in Northeast Wisconsin? It definitely has its pros and cons. It is difficult because there is an incredibly limited amount of professional theatre in the area. However, the warmth and friendship that develops in local community theatre groups is definitely a significant pro.
Also, in a smaller community, actors and actresses are often able to play roles that they might not have the chance to play in a bigger city.

Where do you hope to be in 10 years? My husband and I are planning to move to Chicago within the next year.
I have a lot of friends and contacts involved in theatre there, so I hope to establish myself well enough to be able to pursue acting as a career rather than as an after-work activity.
Depending upon how successful our time in Chicago is, I would eventually like to move to New York City.

What is your goal? I hope to go back to school and pursue a master’s of fine arts degree.
I would eventually like to teach, either at the high school or college level, and direct.