Artistic Statement
←
Amy Drake
Artistic Statement
I am an American playwright/dramatist.
Historical pieces are my forte. I'm fascinated by heroes and their fatal flaws.
I created my first play when I was five years old. It was more of a cartoon. I showed it to my kindergarten teacher who had me perform it for my class. Many years later, after a corporate career, I spent a long theater weekend in New York City. In the hotel, I was inspired to write a short play about a story in the news. I submitted it to the Strawberry Festival. My play was accepted. I knew I was on the right path. At that point, I embarked on my theater career and haven’t looked back.
Since then, I have devoted my life to working creatively. My plays have won two Audience Favorite awards, I’ve won a Best Director award, and I’ve been an active member in the Dramatists Guild, the League of Professional Theatre Women, TRU, PAGES, the Theater Makers Studio, and ICWP.
My plays have been staged and read in theater festivals in New York, Chicago, and other cities around the U.S. I have spoken at theater conferences in the U.S. and Austria.
Everyone has a story to tell. When I come upon a life story that moves me, I research the person, place, and time in which they lived. I look for the story behind the story. I cultivated superb research skills working at the Columbus Museum of Art as an assistant in the curatorial department. My love of history goes back to high school when I was a student volunteer on the Street of Yesteryear at COSI, where I talked about and demonstrated natural dyeing, spinning, and candle making. There, I developed a real appreciation and curiosity about life in a bygone era. I bring that same sense of wonder to each historical play I write. My short plays are about contemporary news items and issues.
My process is to write in the morning. I work on multiple projects simultaneously. As one project moves forward and another stalls: I can easily navigate from one script to another. This keeps me continually engaged in writing and moving my career forward.
Historical pieces are my forte. I'm fascinated by heroes and their fatal flaws.
I created my first play when I was five years old. It was more of a cartoon. I showed it to my kindergarten teacher who had me perform it for my class. Many years later, after a corporate career, I spent a long theater weekend in New York City. In the hotel, I was inspired to write a short play about a story in the news. I submitted it to the Strawberry Festival. My play was accepted. I knew I was on the right path. At that point, I embarked on my theater career and haven’t looked back.
Since then, I have devoted my life to working creatively. My plays have won two Audience Favorite awards, I’ve won a Best Director award, and I’ve been an active member in the Dramatists Guild, the League of Professional Theatre Women, TRU, PAGES, the Theater Makers Studio, and ICWP.
My plays have been staged and read in theater festivals in New York, Chicago, and other cities around the U.S. I have spoken at theater conferences in the U.S. and Austria.
Everyone has a story to tell. When I come upon a life story that moves me, I research the person, place, and time in which they lived. I look for the story behind the story. I cultivated superb research skills working at the Columbus Museum of Art as an assistant in the curatorial department. My love of history goes back to high school when I was a student volunteer on the Street of Yesteryear at COSI, where I talked about and demonstrated natural dyeing, spinning, and candle making. There, I developed a real appreciation and curiosity about life in a bygone era. I bring that same sense of wonder to each historical play I write. My short plays are about contemporary news items and issues.
My process is to write in the morning. I work on multiple projects simultaneously. As one project moves forward and another stalls: I can easily navigate from one script to another. This keeps me continually engaged in writing and moving my career forward.