Amanda Sum

Amanda has collaborated on many interdisciplinary theatre based works, which have brought her to perform and present work at the SMUSH Gallery (Jersey City), On The Boards (Seattle), the Fury Factory Festival of Ensemble and Devised Theatre (San Francisco) and Summerworks (Toronto). Past devised works include Once She Dries (Meagan Woods/Nancy Cohen), New Societies and Champion (re:current theatre), Other Inland Empires (Swim Club), and Double Happiness: Detour This Way (NancyTam & Robyn Jacob/Music on Main/plastic orchid factory/Neworld Theatre). Amanda holds a BFA in theatre performance from Simon Fraser University. As an actor, Amanda’s recent credits include 4 seasons of the East Van Panto (Theatre Replacement), Sense and Sensibility (Arts Club), do you want what i have got? a craigslist cantata (The Cultch), Chicken Girl (rice&beans), and The Wolves (With A Spoon/Rumble/Pacific). As a musician, Amanda's writing floats on top of the indie-pop genre, sometimes dipping into jazz or visiting alternative folk. Amanda's debut full-length record, New Age Attitudes, was just released. Her music video, Different Than Before (directed by Mayumi Yoshida), was JUNO Nominated for Music Video of the Year, and won the SXSW Music Video Jury Award. She aims to champion other under-represented artists in her music work. All her sound recordings were made with an all-female production and engineering team, and feature an all-Asian female band. Music recording collaborators include Emily Millard, Olivia Quan, Jamie Lee, Mary Ancheta, Cindy Kao, Shin-Jung Nam, Ginger Chen, and Elisa Pangsaeng. As Theatre Replacement's COLLIDER Artist in Residence, Amanda created New Age Attitudes: Live in Concert, a pop-up book performance. She has presented in-development iterations of NAA: LIC at PushOFF in 2021 and 2022. Directed by Maiko Yamamoto, the premiere of the piece was presented at The Cultch as part of the Femme Festival in the spring of 2023. Amanda dips between disciplines, and values collective opportunities, chortling laughter, matching outfits, rhythm and rigour across all mediums she works with.