About Amy

Amy White lives in Mount Vernon, Iowa. A big believer in the power of theater to heal, educate and strengthen communities, Amy wants to make plays available and accessible to all ages.

As an actor/producer/director/board member involved in the local community theatre for 25+ years, a speech coach at the high school for 10 years and the parent of a kid who loved to act in school, Amy knows how much fun it is to discover a new play or a series of short plays that can get you excited about sharing them, and in turn, get others excited about performing for an audience.

She has also had her work performed in Iowa at Riverside and Dreamwell Theatres of Iowa City and City Circle Theatre of Coralville as well as in New York City, Madison, Wisconsin, and Kansas City, Missouri.

Growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Amy was part of a family of explorers and storytellers. Although she was an avid reader (especially of comic books), she discovered that presenting a story in dramatic form could capture the attention of a group and give it dimension not found on the page.

She enjoyed acting in plays throughout high school but concentrated on writing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Virginia. She was not involved in theater productions again until well after she moved to Iowa with her family and auditioned for a local community theater production at age forty.

In her career as a public librarian, she has made it a priority to give all children and their families free access to the magic of live theater performances. She has created her own puppet shows to share and hosted shows by the internationally known professionals of the Eulenspiegel Puppet Company in West Liberty, Iowa.

During her tenure as a member of her community theatre’s board of directors she has successfully worked to get children’s shows included in the regular season of plays the group produces. Writing plays for children of all ages to act in or enjoy is her focus. Her short plays and monologues have been used by students participating in Iowa’s high school speech competitions.

So much is learned when people come together to create something new. Adults and children alike listen to the director and work toward a common goal. Audiences are also more receptive to a message when it is presented in a storytelling form; thus, theater is a great way to illustrate a philosophical argument or dissect a political or scientific theory.

Amy’s plays are written for actors of all experience levels and, because they are original, are not loaded with expectations or preconceptions of how the characters must look. Everyone can enjoy being in or watching a theater production.

“Success” is involving someone new in a show or welcoming an audience member who has never been to a play before.