COALITION SPOTLIGHT: Amber Hendrix

Amber Hendrix is, by all standards, a fantastic human. During her time at the Coalition Theater she has performed with former house team Dollar Machine, coached teams Oatmeal Marge and Gossip Badge, and is 1/3rd of The Hearst Girls, a monthly improv and stand up showcase that seeks to provide a supportive environment for female, queer, and gender non-conforming performers.

You can see this Virginia local with her squad "The Hearst Girls", Friday October 18th, as a guest in the next Trash Bang sketch show, or around Richmond doing stand-up! Here are her answers to some questions posed by her fellow performers here at the Coalition.

"Who is the cutest member of Gossip Badge?" - Emily Berry

AMBER: "Every member of Gossip Badge is overwhelmingly cute. I could not begin to rank!"

"How did Hearst Girls start and how did you come up with the name?" - Erin Slayton

AMBER: "HG was started by Shamoniki Ellison - she messaged Casey Neeley, Kiersten Hoffman and I to pitch a 3-person team. We met up a couple times and really clicked under Sham's direction. Contrary to popular belief, HG is named for William Randolph Hearst, not Patty. We had a scene about sensationalism in journalism during an early practice sesh. I believe Sham called us the "Hearst Girls" at the end of that practice and it stuck! We talk about this a bit in the Coalition LIVE! Podcast episode recorded a couple of weeks ago which drops Oct 16th!"

"What are your cats names? Are they siblings? I <3 them" -Erin Slayton

AMBER: "My cats are named Herbie and Cubby. They do look alike but are 7 years apart in age! Herbie is 9 and "Baby Cubby" is 2. Both adopted from the Henrico Humane Society and both beautiful little bois."

"How did you get into improv?" -Erin Slayton

AMBER: "I started taking classes at the Coalition during the Fall 2014 session. I had just visited NYC and had dinner with a friend taking classes at Magnet. He told me he thought I'd really enjoy it. I got home and did some googling…it turned out the Coalition was doing a Freeview that next week! Matt Newman headed up the Freeview session I was at and I was hooked."

"How do you balance your life?" -Jazmine Gordon

AMBER: "Ooof. It's hard and I don't always succeed! I want to always show up when I say I will and thus try to only commit to projects I can see through. Fortunately, a lot of my work outside of work is with very experienced organizers who provide constant inspiration and support. And I get to focus on issues I'm passionate about, so that helps keep me going! I am however regularly feeling over-committed and under-rested fwiw. LOL"

"Where do you buy your clothes?" -Jazmine Gordon

AMBER: "I don't shop a ton. But when I do, top picks are Loft for work, Madewell, & Anthropologie + thrifting."

"What does it take to maintain an audience for a 10pm show over years?" -Elliot Wegman

AMBER: "We definitely take recs for comics but some come from open mic/show scouting, depending on how much time we have. We've been lucky to have some great guests who are willing to come back. AND we've had some awesome comics from out of town. #blessed"

"Hearst girls has had a musical act once. Any future plans to showcase music or other media besides stand up on the show?" -Elliot Wegman

AMBER: "I would love that! I really wanted to have Angelica Garcia perform at our show but she might be too in demand. The show you referenced was our First Anniversary Show featuring Blush Face in addition to a few stand ups. I think it would be fun to do it again some time as a treat!"

"You occasionally have guest members play on Hearst Girls, and recently an all guest cast. What selection process and/or group preparation do you all do to make those shows special!" -Harrison Brooks

AMBER: "We definitely think about the HG "brand" when having guest improvisers. We love people who are supportive and of course people who are willing to just jump in and roll with what will likely be some bizarre scenarios. In a lot of cases that's involved inviting some of our improv mentors to perform, including our Matriarch, Shamoniki :heart: Special preparation involves looping guests into our patented Troll warm up!"

"Who’s your favorite work lunch buddy and why I haven’t I been invited yet?" -Joe Mack

AMBER: "I have a rotating cast of lunch buddies and I like them all for different reasons. Though I also like some of them for the same reasons. Let's do lunch!"

"What are your go-to fall jams?" -Joe Mack

AMBER: "Ooo! I've had Angel Olsen's "Lark" on repeat lately. So good. Leonard Cohen is always an autumn go-to for me. It's just feels right. I've also been listening to Will Oldham a lot, though he's an old fave."

"Who are your heroes/inspirations (not just comedically, but in how you live your life)?" -Joe Mack

AMBER: "I really admire Mariame Kaba, an organizer working to dismantle the prison industrial complex. But I also am in awe of local grassroots organizers - particularly those focusing on class, employment, housing, transportation, and education issues in Richmond. As well as a lot of relatively young organizers and indigenous folks who spend countless hours fighting the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines. All these people have full time jobs or are full time students with jobs and seemingly negative time. But somehow they are out at everything. Working in solidarity to build a better world. It's incredible and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to learn from them. Thanks for asking about that!!"

"Fave hottie from (the film) Dunkirk???" -Kathryn Schmidt

AMBER: "Mark Rylance. Tom Hardy distant 2nd."

"If you could visit anywhere in the world, that you haven't been to, where would you go? And why?" -Shamoniki Ellison

AMBER: I would love to go to St. Petersburg, Russia!! It's a beautiful port city along a river and home to the Hermitage, one of the biggest art museums in the world. I took several Russian history courses as an undergrad so there are a lot of points of interest. It would also be cool to go while the city is experiencing mostly continuous sunlight at the beginning of summer. Definitely on my short list!"