Amanda Charlton is a freelance theatre and film director in New York City. She has focused her career on developing new work as a director and artistic producer. Amanda worked at Williamstown Theatre Festival, as the Artistic Associate and Director of The Professional Training Program from 2001-2011.
As a director, at Williamstown Theatre Festival she worked on several world premieres of new plays like: Dissonance by Damian Lanigan; Caroline in Jersey by Melinda Lopez; Demon Dreams by Tommy Smith and The Judy Show by Judy Gold and Kate Moira Ryan.Workshops of new plays include: elemeno pea by Molly Smith Metzler and The Tutors by Erica Lipez.
While at Williamstown, Amanda developed and curated several innovative programs for new work including The Fellowship Projects which was created by Roger Rees. Some highlights of the Fellowship Projects include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson by Alex Timbers music by Michael Freidman, which was produced at The Public with a subsequent run on Broadway; After The Revolution by Amy Herzog, produced at Playwrights Horizons with many subsequent productions. As a line producer for the Main Stage and Nikos stages at Williamstown she has worked with incredible artists like John Guare, Judith Light, Michael Grief and Joe Mantello.
Amanda has directed at several theaters in New York City and regionally, some include: Atlantic Theatre Company; Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Naked Angels, Cherry Lane, EST, Juilliard and NYU Grad, The Geffen Theatre, Geva Theatre, Cape Cod Playhouse, Merrimack Rep Theatre and The White Heron Theatre. Amanda is proud to have directed the first workshops of Molly Smith Metzler’s play elemeno pea at Juilliard and Cry it Out at Geva Theatre which went on to have over 30 regional productions. She is thrilled to have been a part of a play that talks about the socio-economic realities of being a parent and the difficult and complex decisions a modern day women is forced to make, honored to be part of that initial discussion and thrilled that so many amazing women have worked on the play. Some of the writers she has worked with include: Molly Smith Metzler, Elizabeth Meriwether, Anne Washburn, Amy Herzog, Erica Lipez, Melinda Lopez, Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, Kate Benson, Stefanie Zadravec, Tommy Smith and Damian Lanigan.
As a tv/film director, Amanda created and co-directed a web series called Friend Therapy with Jenny Woodward, Vella Lovell and Clea Alsip for Meetinghouse Productions and can be found on Chuckler.com. Friend Therapy was nominated for a best supporting actress award by the 9th Annual Indie Series Awards and was accepted into the Bechdel Film Festival.
Amanda has taught acting at Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Kennedy Center and currently co-teaches with Keira Naughton. Amanda has directed over 10 showcases for Williamstown and the ABC diversity showcases. She has been a judge for the Irene Ryan Acting Awards at The Kennedy Center. She has directed a reading of True West for Adam Driver’s charity, Arts in the Armed Force at Fort Bliss Army Base in Texas where she participated poorly in a special forces ropes course training exercise (she had to be rescued). Amanda continues to advocate and support writers and artists and is proud to be a board member of SPACE on Ryder Farm where she has directed for The Roving Dinner and four annual Farm in the City Galas.
Amanda is the proud mother of a smart, artistic, funny little girl and gratefully married to Jason Cilo who is ALSO smart, artistic and funny!
