Amanda Lipitz is an American director and producer of films and Broadway shows, including the documentary '' STEP''. She's also a former voice actress, best known for voicing Zoey in the English localization of the Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series Mew Mew Power.

Life and career

Lipitz was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Brenda Rever and Roger Lipitz. After graduating from the

Park School of Baltimore The Park School of Baltimore, known as Park, is a private, coeducational, PK-12, non-sectarian, progressive day school located in Baltimore County, Maryland. The school was founded in 1912 by Eli Frank Sr., Professor Hans Froelicher Sr., and ...

, she studied theatre at New York University's

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

, where she earned a BFA in theatre in 2002. Shortly after this, she did

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-sc ...

for

4Kids Entertainment 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation; stylized as 4K!DS ENTERTAINMENT) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production ...

under the name "Amanda Brown," most notably as Zoey in Mew Mew Power, an English localization of the Japanese

series ''Tokyo Mew Mew''. Lipitz is the founder of Amanda Lipitz Productions, under which she has produced Broadway shows and directed and produced short films for non-profit organizations.

Broadway

Lipitz began producing New York theatre after graduating from New York University, making her Broadway debut as a producer at age 24 with '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' in 2005. She produced '' Legally Blonde: The Musical'', which opened on Broadway in 2007. She served as executive producer and creator of MTV's series '' Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for Elle Woods''. Lipitz' Broadway credits include the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning productions of ''

A View from the Bridge ''A View from the Bridge'' is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955, as a one-act verse drama with '' A Memory of Two Mondays'' at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The run was unsuccessful, ...

'' in 2015 and '' The Humans'' in 2016.

Off-Broadway

In 2015, she served as lead producer for ''Brooklynite'', a musical by Peter Lerman, inspired by the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company.

Non-profit filmmaking

Lipitz has made more than 30 short-form documentaries for organizations which include Young Women's Leadership Network,

Citymeals-on-Wheels Citymeals on Wheels, also called Citymeals, is a Meals on Wheels-type nonprofit organization in New York City that raises private funds to provide prepared meals and social support to homebound elderly residents of New York City. History Gael ...

, College Bound Initiative, The Tory Burch Foundation,

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

, Turnaround for Children, and

The Gateway School The Gateway School is an independent school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan serving children ages 5–14 with learning disabilities. It currently enrolls approximately 180 students. Gateway students typically have difficulty in mainstream c ...

. These documentaries serve as fundraising material, and document the works of each organization.

Film

Lipitz' directed the feature-length film '' STEP'', which won an award at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. The subjects of the film, the "Lethal Ladies of BLSYW", attend the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, a school Lipitz had been an active supporter of since its inception in 2009. The film was released theatrically by

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

in 2017. In 2017, Lipitz was featured on '' The Hollywood Reporter's'' Documentary Filmmaker Roundtable, alongside Evgeny Afineevsky,

Greg Barker Greg Barker is an American filmmaker and producer. In 2011, ''The New York Times'' described Barker as “a filmmaker of artistic and political consequence.” Previous films include '' Sergio'' (short-listed in 2010 for the Academy Award for B ...

Yance Ford Yance Ford () is an African-American transgender producer and director. In 2019, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Life and career Ford graduated from Hamilton College in 1994. Beginning in 2002 he worked as a series producer at PBS for te ...

Matthew Heineman Matthew Heineman (born June 6, 1983) is an American documentary filmmaker, director, and producer. His inspiration and fascination with American history led him to early success with the documentary film ''Cartel Land'', which was nominated for ...

Brett Morgen Brett D. Morgen (born October 11, 1968) is an American documentary filmmaker. His directorial credits include '' The Kid Stays in the Picture'' (2002), '' Crossfire Hurricane'' (2012), '' Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck'' (2015), '' Jane'' (2017), a ...

and Peter Nicks, where she said "...we have a very different responsibility than 20 years ago. It's an incredible time to make documentaries because millions and millions of people see these movies now." In 2021, Lipitz second documentary '' Found'' was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, following three teenage girls who found out they are blood-related cousins on

23andMe 23andMe Holding Co. is an American personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva testing, sali ...

. Lipitz agreed to direct the English-language remake of the Spanish film, ''

Instructions Not Included ''Instructions Not Included'' () is a 2013 Mexican comedy-drama film directed, co-written, co-produced by, and starring Eugenio Derbez. The plot follows a Mexican playboy who is suddenly saddled with a love child at his doorstep, and sets off to ...

''.

Podcasts

Lipitz co-created and directed ''

Motherhacker ''Motherhacker'' is a dark comedy scripted podcast produced by Gimlet Media and starring Carrie Coon. Background ''Motherhacker'' is a dark comedy audio drama produced by Gimlet Media and starring Carrie Coon. The show was directed by Amanda L ...

'', a scripted podcast with Gimlet Media and Spotify starring Carrie Coon. The first season of ''Motherhacker'' was released in 2019, and the second season in 2021.

Awards and nominations

* Winner of

Special Jury Prize for Inspirational Filmmaking, Step (2017) * Nominee for

Grand Jury Prize, Step (2017) * Nominee for the

Stockholm Film Festival The Stockholm International Film Festival () is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year since then during the second half of November, and focuses on emerging and early career fil ...

Bronze Horse for Best Documentary, Step (2017) * Winner of AFI Docs Festival Audience Award for Feature Documentary, Step (2017) * Winner of

Black Reel Award The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African Americans in film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the Afr ...

for Outstanding Documentary Feature, Step (2017) * Nominee for Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize, Step (2017) * Winner of Cinetopia Film Festival Audience Award for Documentary, Step (2017) * Nominee for

Critics Choice Award The Critics' Choice Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Written ballots are ...

, Best First Documentary, Step (2017) * Winner of Film Club's Lost Weekend Award for Best Documentary, Step (2017) * Nominee for Hot Docs Canadian Int'l Documentary Festival Audience Award, Step (2017) * Nominee for

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

People's Choice Award for Best Documentary, Step (2017) * Nominee for Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Documentary, Step (2017) * Winner of

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

Women in Cinema Lena Sharpe Award, Step (2017) * Nominee for

Futurewave Youth Jury Award, Step (2017) * Nominee for

Golden Space Needle Award, Step (2017)

Voice acting credits

*'' Magical DoReMi'' – Belinda Higgins (Nobuko Yokokawa) *'' Mew Mew Power'' (4Kids dub) – Zoey Hanson/Mew Zoey (Ichigo Momomiya/Mew Strawberry) and Mrs. Hanson *'' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward'' – Starlee Hambrath

Productions

On Broadway

*'' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'', 2005 *'' Legally Blonde: The Musical'', 2007 *'' The Performers'', 2012 *''

'', 2015 *'' The Humans'', 2016

Stage productions

*''Brooklynite'',

Vineyard Theatre The Vineyard Theatre is a 120-seat Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Founded in 1981 by Barbara Zinn Krieger, the Vineyard states that its goal is "to give ...

, 2015

Film/TV

*'' Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for Elle Woods'', 2008 *'' STEP'', 2017 *'' Found'', 2021

References

External links

* *
''The Whirlwind Cinderella Story of Breakout Dance Doc “Step,”'' - November 29, 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipitz, Amanda Tony Award winners Tisch School of the Arts alumni Living people English-language film directors American documentary filmmakers Mass media people from Baltimore Film directors from Maryland American women documentary filmmakers Park School of Baltimore alumni 1980 births