Amanda Friou

I study my students from the moment they step in my classroom. I want to know who they are and how they are. Teaching theater is a tender art; knowing them, knowing how they are? It teaches me how to teach them.

Amanda Friou joined the Conservatory in 2019. She teaches acting, directing, devising, and musical theater. 

A disabled director and multidisciplinary theater maker, she works nationally and internationally, bridging the traditional world of musical theater with that of experimental theater and puppetry, with a special interest in object and visual theater. In addition to directing, she designs and fabricates puppets, and consults on projects straddling the theater/puppetry divide. The majority of her career has focused on developing new work.

Friou toured extensively with Das Puppenspiel Puppet Theatre as a performer and puppeteer before transitioning to directing and puppet design and fabrication. In addition to being a longtime builder for Basil Twist, she has worked on new work at American Repertory Theater, HERE Arts Center, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, Second Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Center Theatre Group, the Guthrie Theater, Geva Theater, and Fredericia Teater in Fredericia, Denmark. She has also been a guest artist at Florida State University, New York University’s graduate musical theater writing program, SUNY Brockport, and the University of Iowa. 

She is a recipient of the prestigious Drama League Directors Project Fall Fellowship (2011) and Artist Residency (2015), and served as a nominator for the Drama League Awards. She is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Friou studied classical acting at the British American Drama Academy before receiving a B.A. in drama (directing) from Macalester College. While at Macalester, she laid the foundation for her career in puppetry and physical theater, studying mask improvisation, and went on to study Viewpoints and Suzuki while at the University of Washington (UW). Friou holds an M.F.A. in directing from the UW School of Drama, where she trained under Valerie Curtis-Newton. As a multidisciplinary artist, she was also mentored by scenic designers Skip Mercier and Tom Lynch. Friou currently teaches physical theater for the pre-professional program at Esh Circus Arts.

Recent Notable Work

@Lys—Director, Boston Conservatory, 2023
As You Like It—Puppet designer and coach, Boston Conservatory, 2022
Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play—Director of Act III, Boston Conservatory, 2020
A Hero’s Tale—Puppetry consultant, Fredericia Teater, 2020
Shrek—Puppet designer and coach, Boston Conservatory, 2019