OHA’s Artistic and Development Associate Amy Kyzer is celebrating her second winter on Deer Isle and is thrilled that the island decided to throw these snow parties in her honor. Here’s your chance to get to know her better while you’re huddled around the wood stove:
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| Amy as Maria (The Sound of Music) in Vienna. |
Where did you grow up?
Hawley, Pennsylvania. In the heart of the Poconos. It was a small area, much like Deer Isle, centered around the largest man-made lake in the northeast. I had an early understanding of welcoming people from away each summer.
How would your elementary school classmates remember you?
Funny and crazy. I loved pulling pranks. I told my best friend (who is still my best friend) that “puberty” is when you buy a new dog and then convinced him to ask our history teacher in front of the whole class. He also had a great sense of humor, which is probably why we’re still friends.
Name four fictional character with whom you’d be okay being stuck in an elevator. Why?
Rhett Butler (from Gone with the Wind) – I saw the movie for the first time when I was eight and fell in love for the first time. I’m still not over it. When the movie was done, I ran around the house, crying and saying that I hated the Yankees. It was a while before my mother had the heart to tell me I was one of them.
Rose Campbell (from Eight Cousins and Rose In Bloom) – Louisa May Alcott books were my favorite when I was a kid. Rose was a wonderful and warm and generous character.
Flora, Fauna and Merryweather (from Sleeping Beauty) – I’m counting them as one. They were a group of crusty old broads who knew how to raise a kid right. They could do magical spells and make dresses and cake.
MacGyver (from MacGyver) – Richard Dean Anderson was not only easy on the eyes, he was a lot like my dad – able to fix anything with absolutely nothing.
If you were a cartoon character, what cartoon character would you be?
Betty Boop. She was sweet and smart and sexy. And she had her own song.
When did you first fall in love with theater?
That’s a hard one. My amazing mother wanted us all to be well rounded and had us take a year of piano, try a sport or group activity and so on. At the tender age of eight, she strongly suggested that I take part in the community theater’s production of Carousel. Though terrifying, as I was, believe it or not, a very shy child, I made many new friends who I still know and work with. And I found a great new outlet for all my creativity and insanity.
Want the chance to work with Amy? Sign up for OHA’s new musical theater workshop, “Sing Me A Story!,” starting Thursday, February 12.
