Amelia Parenteau

I'm a writer, French-to-English translator, and theater maker with a passion for social justice and a penchant for travel.

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Here's a selection of press coverage of theater productions I have worked on. Read on for more details about my role with each project!

First Lady

I translated Sedef Ecer's Lady First, a satirical romp of a play about a megalomaniacal first lady of a fictional banana republic in Mesopotamia desperately clinging to power as it crumbles around her. (Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre, 2025)

The Pittsburgh Tatler •

“First Lady” at PICT Classic Theatre

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This truism – originally penned by Lord Acton in the late nineteenth century – is a primary object of investigation in Turkish/French playwright Sedef Ecer’s cynical play First Lady. The play is set in a “modern banana republic” in a vaguely defined Mesopotamia, in the midst of a popular uprising against an oppressive authoritarian president. The president – whom we never see – has secretly fled the country; his ministers, in a...
onStage Pittsburgh •

Review: Funny and Fierce 'First Lady' Puts a Real Housewives Face on a Dictator's Mate in USA Premiere at PICT

By Sharon Eberson on October 5, 2025 • ( 0 ) By SHARON EBERSON A dictator’s wife behaves like a spoiled child, oblivious to her people’s cries of anguish. What could possibly go wrong? The First Lady of the USA premiere play First Lady is named Ishtar (borrowed from the infamous film flop, perchance?), a character as colorful as her ostentatious wardrobe, in a sort of melding of Imelda Marcos, Eva Peron and Maria Antoinette. If fictional Mesopotamia had a Real Housewives show, Ishtar could be...
'Burgh Vivant •

All God’s Creatures Are Restless – A Review of “First Lady” - 'Burgh Vivant

by Claire DeMarco In a modern regime somewhere near ancient Mesopotamia, the citizens are uprising.  They’ve had enough with corruption and the state of their country.  The president of this mythical country has already fled for parts unknown. His wife, First Lady Ishtar (Elizabeth Elias Huffman), totally oblivious doesn’t know her husband has left.  Nor does she realize that the country is in turmoil. In an attempt to tamp down the growing unrest, Ishtar’s Chief of Staff Elish (Doren Elias) is...
WQED •

PICT Theatre - First Lady

Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre is showing Sedef Ecer’s play “First Lady.” WQED-FM’s Melissa Black interviewed the playwright Sedef Ecer, the translator for the play Amelia Parenteau, and PICT’s Artistic Director Elizabeth Elias Huffman, who is also acting the lead role in the play. A satirical romp, First Lady Ishtar is oblivious to the ensuing uprising around her, as she becomes the unwitting catalyst for an explosive reaction. Directed by Adil Mansoor, First Lady’s timely production...
Pittsburgh Owlscribe •

Review of The First Lady- An Autocrat Gets Her Comeuppance

PICT Theatre’s U.S. premiere staging of Turkish/French playwright, Sedef Ecer’s, political satire The First Lady opens on a government ministers meeting in a hypothetical country somewhere in Mesopotamia.           Seen on video on a pair of screens on either side of the stage, the trio of officials (Art DeConsillis, Ricardo Vila-Roger and John Dolphin) scramble for a solution to the large-scale demonstrations taking place in the capital streets against their authoritarian regime,           Th...
90.5 WESA •

Pittsburgh troupe stages US premiere of political satire ‘First Lady’

This is WESA Arts, a weekly newsletter by Bill O'Driscoll providing in-depth reporting about the Pittsburgh area art scene. Sign up here to get it every Wednesday afternoon.As you’ve likely heard, live theater faces some challenges these days, in Pittsburgh and around the country. But small, scrappy stage troupes are among those pressing on. Some even reinvent themselves.One example is Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre, founded in 1996. PICT, first known as Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Th...

Tussaud/Antoinette

I served as dramaturg and French language coach for this queer feminist horror play exploring the real (and not-so-real) relationship between Madame Tussaud and Marie Antoinette. (Jody Christopherson, 2021-2023)

Autophagies (Self-Eaters)

I translated Eva Doumbia's Autophagies from French into English and produced the US premiere productions of the English language version in a multi-city tour. (Cie La Part du Pauvre/Nana Triban, 2019-2023)

Such Things As Vampires

I served as the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advocate on this queer feminist punk musical adaptation of Dracula. (People's Light, 2018)

America is Hard to See

I was a member of the three-person research & development team that created this documentary theater project about the lives of convicted sex offenders in Miracle Village, Florida. (Life Jacket Theatre Company, 2015-2018)

Liminal

I wrote Liminal, a play about a young woman who moves to New York and finds herself grappling with her role in gentrification, the oppression of homelessness, and a budding romance. It premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival. (Bedlam Ensemble, 2015)

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