By Jax Johnson
The Director of Houghton’s Lyric Theatre, Professor Amanda Cox, who recently directed Houghton’s production of “Into the woods” has recently participated in numerous other projects. Some of these projects include working on a film called “Through the eyes of Grace”, and acting in a production of “The Last 5 Years”. Cox discusses her recent step into the acting world with the exciting, the anxiety inducing, and the everyday, all as a part of the experience.
On entering the world of professional acting, Cox says, “It’s something I have always dreamed of doing. I thought I would love to do this. I think I’m gifted in this way but it just wasn’t what I did and I’ve had a beautiful, wonderful, fulfilling life…but then it was like God looked at me and said, ‘But what if you could?’”
In early 2022, Cox found a casting call and began auditioning for a film titled, “Through the Eyes of Grace”.
Cox describes the film as “a faith-based thriller about a mother who’s teenage daughter disappears and throughout the movie we’re just trying to get her back.”
Cox notes other recent on-screen appearances through true crime productions acting in the recreation scenes as well as a short film called “Dear Hallmark”.
While she has begun acting on-screen, Cox still keeps her love for the stage. She has recently been in several shows including “Camelot” and “The Last 5 Years”, as well as an upcoming role as Marmee in “Little Women”.
Cox continues by describing the process of getting headshots, going for auditions, and getting her first manager.
She says, “you’re basically signing up for a permanent temp job, because there is no permanent job…sometimes there will be months or years in between and that’s normal.”
With auditions, she says, “You just have to release them out into the universe.” Throughout the whole process she notes that she is incredibly grateful for her family, including her husband who has been, “a great foundation to rely on.”
Moving forward, Cox says, “I just want to keep having projects in front of me.” ★
It’s not that the cinematography was bad or the acting was poor, but it’s disturbing to see the parallels between the dystopian society imagined by the author of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, and the world we live in. And surely this is, at least in part, the point of the series. However, what’s more disturbing is the number of people I hear talking about how much they like the series. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily wrong for someone to like it, but we need to at least understand that it is more than entertainment. It is revelatory.
Let me say that I am thankful to be an American. However, I was ready to throw the first stone at my nation upon reading these books, but I am now realizing that, sadly, I have both benefited from the brokenness of the system and contributed to it. I certainly have no right to violence; and as Brian Zhand points out in his book A Farewell to Mars, we often think this is what freedom is: a right to violence. He goes on in this book to say that “violence cannot tolerate the presence of one who owes it nothing.” This is a hard truth. We either put ourselves at risk of being stoned or we join in the stoning. No other options exist.