Amber Dewey Schultz

Biography

Amber Dewey Schultz is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies and core faculty of the Game Studies & Design program. As an experience designer, she utilizes human-centered design to integrate performance, games, and immersive design into playable theatre experiences.

Her games and playable theatre experiences include I Wish: A Theatrical Puzzle Room (Illinois Theatre and CU Adventures in Time and Space collaboration), which was adapted by CU Adventures as Forest of Fables and won the 2025 Golden Lock Award from Room Escape Artist; The Heist: A Theatrical Escape Room (Illinois Theatre); and Murder on Klein Island(Zoom-based role-playing whodunit). She has also mentored students in designing educational escape rooms for the Molecule Maker Lab Institute and the Museum of the Grand Prairie, resulting in works that have toured nationally to conferences and venues.

Previously, Amber served as Assistant Director of Academic Programs at the Siebel Center for Design, developing interdisciplinary courses and human-centered design programs. She has worked in production management, stage management, and company management roles at performing arts companies including the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, San Francisco Opera, The Dallas Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, and Opera Carolina.

Her scholarship explores the intersection of psychology, immersive performance, and game design, with particular focus on developing frameworks for audience interaction in playable theatre and other immersive contexts. She is an affiliate of Siebel Center for Design and IMMERSE: Center for Immersive Computing.

Education:

MFA, Experience Design – Miami University

BFA, Design and Production (Stage Management) – University of North Carolina School of the Arts