Amy is the founder of Acting Up (in Acadiana), the resident, professional theatre company at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. A Louisiana Native, Amy went to school, lived and worked on the East Coast for twelve years. But Louisiana called her home, where she teaches privately at the AcA and as adjunct at South Louisiana Community College. As an actor and director she has a passion for the classics and for the development of new works. Classic directing favorites include LYSISTRATA, TWELFTH NIGHT, and THE TEMPEST. Original works that she conceived and directed include the site specific GALLERY PLAYS and BAR PLAYS, as well as SUSTAINED WINDS, a play about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which was accepted into and traveled to the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival. Currently the company is developing a piece with the working title PLAY. MUSIC. HEAL. Other new works that she has developed and directed: THE PATRIOT ACTs I and II, NO TEACHER LEFT STANDING, and PAPER OR PLASTIC.

Amy has also worked with arts in education, encouraging the arts to be integrated into the academic curriculum. She has taught numerous professional development workshops for the Acadiana Arts Council and the Lafayette Parish School Board. Currently she serves as the master theatre artist for the PAL Initiative (Performing Arts Learners) through a grant from the DANA Foundation. She and company members are developing a new summer theatre program for the AAC through the GEAR UP program, as well as continuing into year seven of the Summer Youth Shakespeare Ensemble—a 15-day intensive performing arts camp for students ages 10-senior in high school.