A Brief Interview with Amanda Frost

By Rhonda Baughman

I just cannot seem to stay away from the women of Deadtime Stories.
Not that anyone would want to … when you see the latest from the Romero camp, you’ll see why I got all hot and bothered.
“Well, I always go into an audition pretending it's a job or part that I don't want to get.  It just takes the edge off of trying to be the best, or getting upset if I'm not called back to read again. However, it was a little harder for me to do this with 'DS' because I knew it was such a big role in the film and really wanted the chance at it!  They made the audition process very easy, though. Just reading through a few excerpts from the script.  When I was called back it was down to a few other blondes and me, and I guess I got lucky!” Amanda laughs.
I think it might have a little more to do with her performance than just plain luck. Writer/director Jeff Monahan had only outstanding compliments for her vivacious and focused performance.
     “The first day of the shoot was a little unnerving. It was the first time meeting many of the crew and actors, including the gentleman who I was playing opposite, and the first scene we shot was the hotel room scene.  I guess it worked out for the best though because it was obviously a bonding experience right away, but I don't think I've ever been so nervous!”
She did not say bondage experience, she did not say bondage experience, she did not say bondage experience … I snap back to attention.
“The first day's set, like I said, was in a tiny, dark, creepy motel in Uniontown, PA. For the rest of the shoot we were in the top floor of Seton Hill College in Greensburg, PA.  It wasn't all that creepy to me until I heard a story during the shoot of the top floor being haunted by deceased nuns-definitely creepy. Most of the filming was done in a normal classroom (although by the time we were done with it was anything but normal!)
I ask Amanda about her most and least favorite aspects of the shoot …
“I would say that I definitely enjoyed feeling like a star for the week, which I didn't expect to happen. I knew it was a low-budget film, so I was pleasantly surprised to be in constant contact with wonderful make-up, hair, and wardrobe people. I think, too, I was more high maintenance just because of the SPFX make-up and gear I required. There was always someone either washing fake blood out of my hair in the bathtub or putting zombie make-up on me from head-to-toe.”
  “The least enjoyable aspect was all the blood,” Amanda continues. “I mean sure, it's fun for a while to be all decked out in it and have fun taking pictures and laughing about it- but then it gets old. Anyone who's done it knows that being doused in fake blood is like being doused in water- except it's sticky and it stays there. And I had it for hours from head to toe- running down my backside, through my hair, every place possible. One day there was so much blood, the wardrobe lady snuck me into the girls' college dorm to use the dorm showers! We were knocking on doors borrowing things from students- soap, shampoo, anything we could get. It was hilarious-definitely fun memories.”
It sounds like it. While I remember college shenanigans, blood soaked coeds asking to borrow soap were not among them. I suddenly feel like I did not get the most of my tuition.
“I was never an actress- always a singer.  I always looked at actors and thought, ‘How do they do it?’  Everyone always talked about how hard acting was so I was too intimidated to even try it.  I wanted to go to school for vocal performance with an emphases on classical training. However, I didn't have much professional vocal training vocally in my background and knew I'd never be accepted into school for it.  My mom gave me the idea to audition for musical theater instead because students can sing almost anything at the audition, plus I'd still get vocal training if I got in.  She said she sees me act every day just in trying to get what I want- and to trust her that I'd be good at it.  I auditioned, got accepted, and when I was thrown into my acting courses, found that it came very naturally for me. I was helping other students who'd been doing it most of their lives.   After 3 months I was cast as the lead in a professional play in Pittsburgh- and realized my acting could run neck and neck with my singing- so now I do both. My mom is my biggest influence and idol just because of her belief in me and her hard work ethic. But as far as famous people or people I strive to have a career like, I don't.”
So true- and it’s not like she would even need to act like anyone else.
“I want to be successful enough in my work that I don't have to quit doing what I love just to pay the bills. Honestly though, I have so many goals, and most of them no one would believe or people would think I was crazy. So we'll stick with that. Winter is a bad season for auditions and production. Hopefully the summer will bring some good opportunities along.”
I suspect – once the frost passes, the new Frost will emerge.