Arts Directory

About

Artist Bio

From directing high school plays in Hawaii to directing theatrical dance experiences in Greer, Amy Bright has spent twenty years honing her love of theatre in a way that’s accessible and interactive.

From 2005-2010, she taught high school theatre and directed plays at a private school in Hawaii. After moving back to SC, she worked as a teaching artist for The Warehouse Theatre for several years and learned how to bring Shakespeare and other literature to life through theatre games for third grade through seniors.

Following that experience, she worked four years in the charter school system where she taught theatre and developed a Historical European Martial Arts (sword fighting) club. She integrated drama and art into her freshman English classes and HEMA and drama into her British literature classes. During that time, she received her Arts Integration Certification from The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM and gave a TEDx Talk about integrating Historical European Martial Arts and theatre into schools in 2020.

Amy currently runs a dance theatre studio in Greer and organizes summer teen literature camps that include theatre games sword fighting, leather working, wood working, and more to create active learning environments.

She also is a faculty member at The Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference where she uses acting and sword fighting to help spec-fic and historical fiction authors work through fight scenes.

Artist Statement

My goal as an artist and educator is to create an environment that teaches theatre and literature through delight and discovery.

Whether working with elementary students or adults, I do this through interactive units and immersive experiences.

These approaches help students understand what they’re learning, aid retention, and give purpose and agency to the students.

I work to scaffold skills and ideas in each activity so that the students grow in a discipline and in understanding literature in a step-by-step format.

Through the process, students learn to work collaboratively, develop critical thinking skills, and create their own art based on a text.