Amy Guterson

Last updated
Amy Gordon Guterson
Born
Amy Gordon

1965
Alma mater Stern College for Women
Occupation(s)Actress, director, educator
Years active1995–present
Known forAgent Emes
Board member of ATARA
SpouseJohn Guterson
Children4
Website tzoharseminary.com
kolisha.org

Amy Gordon Guterson (born 1967) is an American Orthodox Jewish actress, filmmaker, and educator. She is best known for her role as Chaya Epstein in the long-running video series Agent Emes. She is the founder and director of the Tzohar Seminary for Chassidus and the Arts and co-founder of the Jewish women's theater troupe Kol Isha. She is also a board member of the Arts and Torah Association for Religious Artists (ATARA), founded by Miriam Leah Droz. [1]

Contents

Early life

Guterson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a Modern Orthodox family. [2] She attended high school at Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway [1] and studied theater at Stern College for Women in New York, where she was the school's first theater major and played Hannah Szenes in a one-woman show. [3] [4] Following her graduation from Stern in 1988, [4] [2] she studied with Uta Hagen at the HB Studio and with Mike Nichols and Paul Sills at The New Actors Workshop, where she received a graduate degree in acting. [3] [4] [5] She also performed in Off-Broadway plays as well as Jewish repertory and Yiddish theatre, earning Actors' Equity Association membership. [4] [5]

Career

Kol Isha

After getting married and settling in Squirrel Hill, Guterson began educating artists and actresses in the community through the local Chabad. [1] During this time she met Barb Feige, an actress and stage manager, and the two formed Kol Isha, a Jewish women's theatre troupe, in 1995. [2] [6] The following year, the troupe performed their first play, An Invisible Thread, at the Squirrel Hill Jewish Community Center. [2]

The group's second play, Journey Through Ruth, about modern-day women encountering the Biblical figures of Ruth and Naomi, premiered in 1998. [2] A third play, The Choosing, premiered in 1999 at Pittsburgh's City Theatre; that same year, the troupe performed a Hanukkah play entitled Hannukah Lights. [2] In 2001 they performed Spirits of Valor, which portrayed the historical Jewish women Bella Abzug, Barbara Myerhoff, Molly Picon, Emma Lazarus, and Glückel of Hameln, at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in celebration of Jewish Women's History Month. [2] [6] Another play, Imagining Bubbe, based on stories told by the troupe members' grandmothers, premiered in 2007. [2] [6]

In addition to their productions, the troupe have also presented workshops and small performances at such venues as the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance and Pittsburgh's Congregation Beth Shalom. [2]

Tzohar Seminary

In October 2011, Guterson opened the Tzohar Seminary for Chassidus and the Arts in Pittsburgh, a post-high school arts program for Orthodox Jewish girls. [1] The name "Tzohar" comes from the Hebrew term for "window" used in the Biblical description of Noah's Ark, which also translates to "precious stone". [1] [7] [8] [5] Tzohar curriculum combines Torah study and arts education, with classes in creativity and the arts, Hasidic teachings, writing, music, dance, fine arts, theatre, filmmaking, Tanya, and the weekly Torah portion. [7] [5] The school's principal is Rabbi Dovid Hordiner, and teachers have included Agent Emes creator Leibel Cohen and author and columnist Rabbi Shais Taub. [5]

Film

In 2005, Guterson wrote, directed, and co-produced the short film Becoming Rachel, which stars Guterson's daughter, Tanya, and premiered at the 12th annual Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival. The film was based on a fable Guterson's grandmother had told her, which she would later use for a segment in Imagining Bubbe. [2] [9]

Personal life

Guterson lives in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh with her husband, Dr. John Guterson, and their children. [2] [4]

Credits

Acting

YearTitleRoleNotes
2003-2012Agent EmesChaya EpsteinVideo series; recurring role

Film

YearTitleCredit(s)Notes
2005Becoming RachelDirector, writer, co-producer (with Chaza Tombosky)Short film

Theatre

YearTitleCredit(s)Notes
1996An Invisible ThreadWriterFirst Kol Isha production [2]
1998Journey Through RuthWriterKol Isha production
1999The Choosing
Hanukkah Lights
2001Spirits of Valor
2007Imagining BubbeDirector
2008 Can You Imagine?Director

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Sara Trappler Spielman (Nov 9, 2011). "Woodmere actress opens women's art school in Pittsburgh". The Jewish Star.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sara Trappler Spielman (Aug 19, 2005). "A Theater Troupe Of One's Own". The Forward.
  3. 1 2 Shalva Ginsparg (April 13, 2015). "A Storied Career: Peninnah Schram, Professor and Award-Winning Storyteller, Retires". The Observer . Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lights, Camera, Action: Alumni Who Work in the Entertainment Industry Are Stars Behind and In the Scenes". Yeshiva University. May 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Sara Trappler Spielman (Nov 10, 2011). "New Seminary Combines Worlds of Chassidism and Performance Art". Chabad.org.
  6. 1 2 3 Alice T. Carter (Feb 20, 2007). "Women's theater group draws on own experiences". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  7. 1 2 Beth Kissileff (Oct 6, 2011). "Pittsburgh Hasidic Seminary Offers Arts Education to Women". The Forward.
  8. ↑ Sara Trappler Spielman (Dec 31, 2011). "A Musical Endeavor". San Diego Jewish Journal.
  9. ↑ Ed Blank (April 2, 2005). "Grandma's tale evolves into coming-of-age story". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
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