Amanda Lipitz is an American director and producer of films and Broadway shows, including the documentary ''

STEP Step(s) or STEP may refer to: Common meanings * Stairs#Step, Steps, making a staircase * Walking * Dance move * Military step, or march ** Marching Arts Films and television * Steps (TV series), ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong * Step (film), ' ...

''. She's also a former voice actress, best known for voicing Zoey in the English localization of the Japanese

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

series

Mew Mew Power is a Japanese manga series created and written by Reiko Yoshida and illustrated by Mia Ikumi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from September 2000 to February 2003, with its chapters ...

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, non-sectarian, progressive day school for children in Pre-Kindergarten (age 4) through grade twelve. Park is located in Brooklandville, Maryland, near the city of Baltimo ...

, 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, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

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

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

for

4Kids Entertainment 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production company that produced English- dub ...

under the name "Amanda Brown," most notably as Zoey in

, 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 the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

-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, and M ...

'' 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 G ...

, College Bound Initiative, The Tory Burch Foundation,

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

, 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 had difficulty in mainstre ...

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

Film

Lipitz' directed the feature-length film ''

'', which won an award at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. The subjects of the film, the "Lethal Ladies of BLSYW", attend the

Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW, pronounced "Bliss") is a public charter middle and high school for girls in Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Maryland. It is the first public all girls' secondary school in the city that had both middle ...

, 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. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...

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

Evgeny Afineevsky Evgeny Mikhailovich Afineevsky (Russian: Евгений Михайлович Афинеевский; born October 21, 1972) is an Israeli-American film director, producer and cinematographer. He has an Academy Award nomination and Emmy ...

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. Life and career Ford graduated from Hamilton College in 1994. Beginning in 2002 he worked as a series producer at PBS for ten years. In 2011 he was named one of ''Filmmaker ...

Matthew Heineman Matthew Heineman is an American filmmaker. The Sundance Film Festival called Heineman "one of the most talented and exciting documentary filmmakers working today", while Anne Thompson of ''Indiewire'' wrote that Heineman is a "respected and gif ...

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), and ...

and

Peter Nicks Peter Nicks is an American filmmaker. Peter Olivera Nicks (born May 2, 1968) is an American film director, producer and writer. He began his career in television and served as co-producer and editor of the 2006 episode "Blame Somebody Else" of ...

, 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, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

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

23andMe 23andMe Holding Co. is a publicly held 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 sample t ...

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

Instructions Not Included ''Instructions Not Included'' (Spanish title: ', literally ''Returns not accepted'') is a 2013 Mexican comedy-drama film co-written, directed by, and starring Eugenio Derbez. The plot follows a Mexican playboy who is suddenly saddled with a love ...

''.

Podcasts

Lipitz co-created and directed ''Motherhacker'', 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 ( sv, Stockholms filmfestival, italic=no) 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. The w ...

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 Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writt ...

, Best First Documentary, Step (2017) * Winner of

Film Club A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

'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, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

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), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

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

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

Golden Space Needle Award The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

, Step (2017)

Voice Acting Credits

*''

Magical DoReMi , alternatively titled ''Magical DoReMi'' in English, is a Japanese magical girl anime television series created by Toei Animation. It focuses on a group of elementary school girls, led by Doremi Harukaze, who become witch apprent ...

'' – Belinda Higgins (Nobuko Yokokawa) *''

'' (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 an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981. It is best known for its productions of the Tony award-winning ...

, 2015

Film/TV

*'' Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for Elle Woods'', 2008 *''

'', 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 People from Baltimore Film directors from Maryland American women documentary filmmakers Park School of Baltimore alumni 1980 births