Featured Artist: Amy Witting

This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens.  Please check back weekly for new posts.

Amy E. Witting

Title\Occupation
Playwright

Where were you born?
I was born in the beautiful and underrated state of New Jersey.

Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long?
I’ve lived in Queens since 2008.  Started in Long Island City and have been in Sunnyside for the past four years.

How did you get involved in theater?
My family encouraged me to put my drama on the stage.  Ha.  Gratefully my parents enrolled me in a theatre group when I was in kindergarten after being cast as the Fat Cat in my preschool play.

What do you love most about Queens?
It’s home.  I lived in Brooklyn for many years with roommates, and when I looked to get a place of my own with decent space I could only afford Queens.  It was a hard move from Brooklyn but now I can’t imagine living anywhere else.  I have a nice community of friends in Sunnyside, and it really feels like a neighborhood where people have roots.  Of course, living off the Bliss stop in Sunnyside I’m always happy.

Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?

Not sure if it’s an “only in Queens” moment but the first summer I lived in Sunnyside I went to the grocery store and came across a jazz festival underneath the big Sunnyside sign.  People were dancing, laughing, and the performers were really talented.  It was an eclectic group of folks listening to the music, dancing, and celebrating the life of Bix Beiderbecke.  I had no idea who Bix Beiderbecke was but every year I have made a point to sit and listen to the music.  It’s a real neighborhood event.  Also discovered that Bix was a jazz legend who lived around the corner from my current apartment in the 1920s.

Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)?
The wonderful thing about my neighborhood is that you can find so many different types of restaurants you’ll never get board.  Outside my neighborhood I love Gantry Park.  It’s one of my favorite places to just sit and watch the world go by.  They’ve recently expanded the boardwalk and you can have a picnic underneath the Pepsi Sign.

Current/Upcoming projects?
I’m pretty excited to workshop my play Day 392 at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC in August as part of NNPN’s MFA Playwrights’ Workshop.  I will also have a workshop production of Road Veins at TADA! in NYC this November thanks to the generous support of The Anne Freedman Grant.