Hello! I'm Amy Schwabauer... Here’s my artist statement… I know you want to read it…

I’m a Cleveland based Actor and Playwright.

Currently, my plays and solo performances recreate classic narratives and re-tell the stories of female archetypes. I question and rewrite the pantheon of women we’ve inherited and delve into the relationships between gods and mortals.  I also explore the idea of the veil, that place between the living and the dead worlds, and actively question the foundations of the hero’s journey.

Although my most recent works vary widely in their approaches, they are consistent in questioning the role of women in a historical context.  Through traditional story-telling, stand-up comedy and improv-based character building, I explore the roles of the female warrior, monster and sorceress.  To date, I have worked in formal theatrical settings and less traditional spaces - bars, bookstores, warehouses, and private residences. 

At heart, I am both an actor and writer dedicated to understanding how women negotiate a world that denies them godliness.

Recent projects…

In Spring of 2022 I performed an excerpt of my new one woman show “I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” at Dobama theatre, as part of the Playwright’s Gym Summer Shorts program. The piece was well recieved and I am looking forward to doing a full production this coming fall. Details to come—be sure to follow me on Instagram for the latest info.

Last Summer, I co-wrote and co-performed in “Bell, Book and Late Night Drive Thru”, with my favorite gal, Carrie Williams for the 2022 Borderlight International Theatre and Fringe Festival. Originally, performed at Cleveland Public Theatre’s Pandemonium 2021.

Also at Borderlight 2022, co-created and co-performed with the lovely Jill Levine in our toy theater show “Coco and Gigi”, that won the CAN Journal award for “Best Visual Theatre”.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with the very talented Jo Roueiheb and Tom Kondalis, on their film “Love Possum” which premiered March of 2023. It is currently being sent out to festivals hence why it is not posted here. I’ve been dipping my feet into sketch comedy., currently doing monthly shows through The Imposter’s Theater, as a member of the sketch team ‘AMSTERDANG’ (follow us @commonroomtheater on Instagram.)

And I’m also doing this…

Teaching playwrighting workshops with Dobama Theatre’s Young Playwright’s Program. I am also a teaching artist for the Disney Musical’s in School’s program through Playhouse Square.

This fall I will be doing a full production of my new solo show: I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes”.

SYNOPSIS: I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes, written and performed by Amy Schwabauer, is a dark comedy framed around the process of cleaning out her dead sister’s house. Based on her own experience, Amy explores what it means to grieve a difficult person and the limits grief takes us to, and the dangerous struggle of grief when it takes you too far. From caretaking, to the death, to the funeral and the haunting aftermath that follows Amy finds the comedy even in the darkest moments and readily admits she still wears her dead sister’s clothes.

Some other recent projects include…

In Fall 2019 I played Virgil/Satan in Maelstrom Collaborative Arts production of The Inferno. Earlier in the fall of 2019, I was a featured writer in  Cleveland Drafts  and presented a new draft of a 15-minute play, Divine Intervention, I wrote specifically for Allen Brandstein and Carrie Williams who graciously performed a fantastic staged reading of the piece!

In July 2019, I had the privilege of revisiting my solo show, This is Not About My Dead Dog, at the BorderLight International and Fringe Theatre Festival, I’m happy to say it did very well and I sold out the majority of my performances.  Lucky for me, Toronto based director Karin Randoja was in town and was dramaturg extraordinaire for this iteration of This is Not About my Dead Dog, which was originally developed in 2017 by Playwrights Local, originally directed by Dale Heinen.

Funny story… creator, performer, and artist Ray Caspio asked me to make a guest appearance in his BorderLight Fringe Festival show, Uncle Toots’ Pasta Dish—I got to play Sally and Sal Incesta, Attorney’s at Law, MD; Ray’s show is interactive, audience members sit at a dining room table with him and have a pasta dinner, a T.V. plays gameshows in the background with this commercial break:

In June 2019 I got to return to Prince Edward Island and the River Clyde Pageant, the Pageant brought me and my artistic collaborator Mike Geither in town to do theater workshops and present new work. Sadly, our dear friend Ker Wells, River Clyde Pageant Co-Director passed away soon after our latest visit to PEI. Please consider donating to the River Clyde Pageant in his honor. In early 2019, I read for The Barnhouse Journal in their reading series, ‘this episode is not on Netflix’.

Here’s some other stuff I’ve done…

In 2018, I spent a vast majority, touring “The Events of the Warren County Fair as Observed by a Young Astronaut” a toy theater show collaboratively written, produced and performed by me and artistic collaborator Mike Geither. We developed the show in Toronto with the awesome Karin Randoja our director and Dramaturg, we toured the show in Toronto, all over North East Ohio, to Pittsburgh, and of course to Prince Edward Island as part of the River Clyde Pageant and to Halifax, Nova Scotia to perform for Zuppa Theater Company.

Over the summer of 2018, I had a thrilling time with The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, playing ‘Feste’ in their production of “Twelfth Night” directed by Anne McEvoy. In September 2018 I had the opportunity to create a piece for Cleveland Public Theatre’s Pandemonium; “Ariadne’s Closet” was my solo performance installation, an interactive performance, taking place on the night before Ariadne’s wedding to the god Dionysus.

In 2017, I had the opportunity to develop and perform my one-woman show, This is NOT About my Dead Dog, (spoiler alert: the show is, in fact, about my dead dog) directed by Dale Heinen and produced by Playwright's Local.  My performance in Dead Dog won the Cleveland Scene Magazine Best of Cleveland Award for Best Actress. This Is Not About My Dead Dog, made local theater critic Bob Abelman's Top Ten Most Memorable Moments in Cleveland Theater 2017 and the show also made critic Christine Howey's list for Best of Cleveland Theater 2017 under the category: Best Risks.  

Other Recent Credits include: Pandemonium 2017: Performed and wrote the comedy sketch "Release your Cracken", done in performance with Michael Randall. The Junkyard, featured on "Kickin it with Kenny", an interactive installation created completely from recycled materials at the International Children's Theater Festival 2017 hosted by Playhouse Square. The Junkyard was conceived and directed by Melissa Crum. Written and performed in collaboration with Melissa Crum, Eric Perusek and Ananais Dixon and me, Amy Schwabauer. Tingle Tangle, a cabaret style show, exploring sexuality and gender norms; conceived by Ray Caspio and directed by Jeremy Paul. Playing Pope Joan and Joyce in Top Girls Directed by Jaime Bouvier, produced by Mamai Theater. Playing Kilbride in Snake Oil written by Arwen Mitchell, Directed by Sarah Greywitt, produced by The Ohio City Theater Project.

 In 2016, I spent time in Chicago studying sketch comedy at Second City in their summer intensive writing program. I graduated from Cleveland State University's Dramatic Arts Program with a specialization in Theatre Performance.