Amy Woodruff is a Louisiana artist specializing in actor-created intermedia performance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from McNeese University, and she is completing a Master of Fine Arts at Goddard College's innovative low-residency Interdisciplinary Arts program in Vermont. Woodruff has trained with Dah Teatar of Serbia, Odin Teatret of Denmark, Shakespeare & Company of Lenox MA, and Vortex Repertory Theatre of Austin TX. She created Theatre Louisiane, Inc. in New Orleans in 1999, an artistic laboratory where she has launched provocative, critically-acclaimed performance pieces. Her works have been seen at New Orleans spaces such as the M.I.C.A. Gallery, the AllWays Lounge, the Louisiana Crafts Guild, the Voodoo Mystère, Zeitgeist, the Pickery, the State Palace Theatre, and the Dramarama festival at the Contemporary Arts Center. Woodruff has received grants from the Louisiana Division of The Arts and the Jazz & Heritage Foundation of New Orleans, and her works are fiscally sponsored by the NYC artists’ service organization Fractured Atlas. She was a Guest Artist in her multimedia stage version of Lovecraft's The Music of Erich Zann at McNeese University Theatre, and in her one-actor project dis+graced at the Montréal Fringe Festival in Canada. She is also a member of Four Humours Theatre Company of New Orleans, and New Orleans magazine honored Woodruff and her collaborating artists from Theatre Louisiane as "People to Watch" (2006). Her original mixed media solo work Moon Cove was seen in New Orleans and in Vermont (and will be staged again soon), and she appeared in the multi-state visual art and performance collaboration, the Our Lady of Sorrows Project, which was presented in Vermont and Maine in 2009. Her recent solo installation work was the video projection + performance project fleetinghosts, which debuted digitally in 2009 and was staged live in New Orleans in 2010.

"As a child I studied visual art and classical music, before I knew anything about theatre," Woodruff explains. "So I come to performance with the perspective of a landscape painter or musical performer, and as a result my work has deep facets of visual design, symphonic composition, and the abstraction of poetic structure. Rather than continuing to work only in traditional theatre, I now explore fusing mediums. My performances, videos, and live installations use live art experiments, design of handmade garments and performer objects, photography, and media projection.

“My projects fuse traditional realism, postmodernist performance art, and visual design into integrated multi-layered artworks. The physical and chromatic elements of performance are as vital to me as the textual/vocal. I enjoy juxtaposing the intimate with the epic, and my tools include the intimacy of physical contact, strategic spatial patterns, and stillness as an expressive element. My performance material consists of original work as well as a variety of existing literary works that I adapt for onstage use, which has included both which has included both traditional western literature and ancient epic tragedy. The subject

matter that I am preoccupied with in my artistic work is the human condition in all its forms: violence, war, fear, endurance, resilience. Culture, geography, and mental illness resonate from direct encounters. I systematically deconstruct the subject matter of my performances during their creation phase, and the outcome is a distillation of the most primary experiences of humankind."

A tenth-generation Louisianian of Cajun French and Cherokee Indian heritage, Woodruff is the first member of her family to graduate from college. She grew up along the prairies and rice fields of the Mermentau River Basin. In the early 1990s she spent two months in the Republic of Panama working as a photographer’s assistant, and in 2004 she attended the United Nations World Theatre Congress in Tampico, Mexico on a Louisiana Division of The Arts mini-grant. She was one of the first 7000 residents to return to the city of New Orleans in September 2005. Woodruff began lessons in folk violin in 2007.

selected media acclaim ::

New Orleans Times-Picayune :: Woodruff “created an eerie mood” with the “ghostly, atmospheric” Moon Cove ... her “hushed, haunting tale … alters your mood for the rest of the evening” (2008). The Seven was “intense" and "intriguing" theater (2004). In Laughing Wild, Woodruff’s "performance and presentation are first-rate" (2001).

Montréal Gazette :: Woodruff’s dis+graced delivers “remarkable emotional honesty" (2006).

Saint Bernard Voice :: Woodruff (in Four Humours Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya) is “splendid” and “expressive … no one could ask for a more earnest and winning portrayal" (2008).

New Orleans Gambit Weekly :: As "the moving spirit of Theatre Louisiane" Woodruff "has given us challenging, thought-provoking plays and performance pieces" (2006). The Seven held "the audience spellbound from beginning to end" (2004). The Music of Erich Zann was "fascinating" and "stand-out" work (2001).

Ambush Magazine :: Woodruff’s “direction and acting" in The Music of Erich Zann are "inspired" ... this is "effectively and brilliantly conceived" theatre (2005). "Go see (her) shows. You will be impressed and entertained" with BloodReign; "epic theatre in the grand sense of the word ... chic touch, great energy" (2003).

Al Shea, theater critic, Steppin' Out, WYES-TV/PBS :: The Seven gets “3 (OUT OF 4) CLAPS!"... Woodruff has "cleverly cast" a "tremendous tale" and uses an "interesting approach and style" (2004).

mikko, theatre columnist, Where Y'at New Orleans Entertainment Magazine :: Woodruff is "a diminutive powerhouse" and "my favorite rising director in town" (2000).

Lake Charles American Press :: Woodruff's "brave and honest" performance (in the Louisiana Premiere of The Conduct of Life at McNeese Theatre) "will be talked about for years to come" (1993).

amy is also at ::

and in her profile at ::

and at her experimental video channels ::

http://www.youtube.com/AmyWoodruff

http://www.vimeo.com/AmyWoodruff

reviews and feature stories ::

Ghostly 'Moon Cove' Appears at Voodoo Mystere (Review) By David Cuthbert, New Orleans Times-Picayune (2008) OUTSIDE LINK | People To Watch for 2006 (Feature) By New Orleans Magazine (2006) HTML | Magazine Spotlights Theatrical Couple (Feature) In Lake Charles American Press (2006) HTML | dis+graced (Review) By Michael Faciejew, Montréal Gazette (2006) HTML | State of Grace (Feature) By Dalt Wonk, Gambit Weekly New Orleans (2006) HTML | Horror Story Sparks McNeese Graduate's Imagination (Feature) By Warren Arceneaux, Lake Charles American Press (2005) HTML | The Music of Erich Zann (Review) By Patrick Shannon III, Ambush Magazine (2005) HTML | The Music of Erich Zann (Feature, Italian) By Andrea Bonazzi, HorrorMagazine (2005) HTML | The Seven (Review) By Dalt Wonk, Gambit Weekly New Orleans (2004) HTML | The Seven (Review) By David Cuthbert, New Orleans Times-Picayune (2004) HTML | BloodReign (Review) By Patrick Shannon III, Ambush Magazine (2003) HTML | Wings of Desire: Portrait of an Underground Producer (Feature) By mikko, Where Y'at Magazine New Orleans (2001) HTML | Laughing Wild (Review) By David Cuthbert, New Orleans Times-Picayune (2001) HTML | Laughing Wild (Review) By Roberts Baston, Southern Voice Magazine (2001) HTML | The Music of Erich Zann (Review) By Dalt Wonk, Gambit Weekly New Orleans (2001) HTML | McNeese's "Faustus" is a Hell of a Show (Review) By Ed Alderman, Lake Charles American Press (1995) HTML | MSU Has Star Turn in "Conduct of Life" (Review) By Ed Alderman, Lake Charles American Press (1993) HTML

amy's selected links ::

ART: Louisiana Division of The Arts | Fractured Atlas a national organization for independent artists | Theatre Without Borders really excellent networking site for international artists | Zeitgeist Arts Center | St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival | McNeese University Theatre | Goddard College of Vermont | Costumer's Manifesto LAND & HERITAGE: America's Wetland please support the conservation of my south Louisiana home: sign petitions, send donations | Gulf Coast Turtle and Tortoise Society | Atchafalaya Basin Program | Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History a top site for great info | Action Cadienne | NativeWeb a top site for American Indian info/links ALSO: National Alliance for The Mentally Ill patient advocacy | Amnesty International | ZomboCom highly recommended; probably the best site on the entire internet