About Us

Jennifer Burkhart and Amanda Hatch are the team that productions large and small turn to for the most diverse selection of props and custom work in the Philadelphia area. They started Avista Custom Theatrical Services more than a decade ago and built a business that focuses on customer service and quality craftsmanship.

After purchasing The Prop Shop when founder Gene Frank decided to retire from the business, the "girls" as they were known to Gene steadily increased the stock from 6,000 square feet to a whopping 10,000 square feet.  After propping shows professionally for 20 years, they have a good base of knowledge of what a production might need and are committed to increasing their stock to reflect those needs.   

In addition to shopping for theater for 20 years, they are pros at turning trash to prop treasure.  From refinishing furniture frames to reupholstering boring pieces, they are able to keep pricing reasonable by putting sweat equity into the trash picked items and turn them into gems for the stage.

While propping requires a jack-of-all-trade mentality, the girls have separate skill sets that compliment each other perfectly.  Amanda is a props person who paints while Jen is a props person who sews.  Combined they can handle most of what a production needs.  

Jen has a BFA from Penn State University where she got experience in all aspects of theater, but specialized in the art of propping.  After school she went to Syracuse Stage as a carpenter for a year and increased her building skill set.  But home was calling and she returned to the Philadelphia area, married her college sweetheart and settled in Delaware County.  Jen and Mike along with the fat cats now live in Montgomery County- close enough to the shop in Norristown, but still within easy commute of Philadelphia.

Jen has been sewing since middle school when she learned to make doll clothes from her mama who can sometimes be seen sewing drapery in the shop with her.  After discovering a need in the theater world for stitchers who sew things other than costumes, she started making larger and larger fabric projects.  From main drapery to masking to scenic pieces and beaded curtains, Jen can do it all.  

Amanda grew up in central Maine and started doing props for plays in high school so she could hang out with all her singing and dancing friends.  After graduating from Earlham College with a BA in German Language and Literature and a continued love of technical theater, she headed back to Maine for a summer at Maine State Music Theatre.  There she met a bunch of folks from the Walnut Street Theatre and moved to Philly to apprentice at WST.  Amanda met her future husband, Pete, while working at Society Hill Playhouse during his only stint working in theater (he's really a letter carrier!).  They moved to Fishtown before it was hip and have settled down there with their cats and one tiny dog.

Amanda has been painting for years as well.  As simple as making wood look like different wood sounds, it is an art form that she excels at.  From being the scenic charge on entire shows at Drexel University where she has been teaching for many years to painting a welcome sign for a wedding, Amanda can do it all.

Avista has been involved in many productions across the Philadelphia stages.  Most recently they have been working with Opera Philadelphia on their new pieces, but always return to their smaller theatre roots.  There is something special about the intimate theatre experience of companies like Azuka and Inis Nua.  But their work has been seen on many stages with companies such as Interact Theatre Co, 1812 Productions, Drexel and Temple Universities, Theatre Horizon, Bristol Riverside Theatre, Delaware Theatre Co, Theatre Exile, Maukingbird Theatre, and more.

They have also done a fair amount of corporate and commercial work.  Giant pills, life like lungs, oversized soup cans, oversized tnt for dancing beavers, and playing card placards are a few of our favorite things.