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School Spotlight<br />
Teachers Make the School<br />
Tony-nominated director Marcia Milgrom Dodge talks about why she<br />
and other successful professionals teach at AMDA<br />
All photography courtesy of AMDA<br />
Marcia Milgrom Dodge started her career as a choreographer,<br />
moving to New York City in 1977 to pursue<br />
her dream. After numerous choreography credits in<br />
regional theatre and Off-Broadway she added directing to<br />
her résumé in the mid-‘90s. Her directing and choreography<br />
work on several productions at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag<br />
Harbor, New York, caught the attention of playwright Terrence<br />
McNally, who suggested she direct and choreograph the 2009<br />
Kennedy Center revival of Ragtime. When the show transferred<br />
to Broadway Marcia made her Broadway debut and was nominated<br />
for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.<br />
In the late ‘90s she started teaching at the American Musical<br />
and Dramatic Academy. We asked her why, with all her success,<br />
she still makes it a top priority to teach at AMDA.<br />
Q What is it about teaching that keeps you coming back?<br />
A Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Well, I think it’s a necessity for<br />
me on some level because it gets me back to basics in terms<br />
of really paying attention to actors and what their process is.<br />
Acting is a different kind of animal—I mean acting is a process,<br />
and as I started out directing, I knew what I wanted from<br />
actors, but I was never really sure how to get it from them. So<br />
once I started studying methods and learning acting technique<br />
myself, by teaching it, I became a much more patient<br />
director and much more willing to take the journey with the<br />
actor. I continue to teach because I love it. I’m able to have an<br />
effect on new members of the theatrical community, young<br />
performers who are going to take steps to become professionals,<br />
and to be there at that inception is very exciting. As you<br />
work with students and cultivate them, they become stronger<br />
and more effective and they sort of surpass you in their ability<br />
to make choices about roles. I try to inspire my students to<br />
really understand who they are playing and why they do what<br />
they are doing, and that comes with them being well-rounded<br />
human beings as well. It’s a fascinating journey, and it’s about<br />
people struggling to achieve their dream. So it’s a great place<br />
to be; it’s a very positive place to be.<br />
Q How does AMDA create that environment?<br />
A Well, I think we have an amazing faculty, and what’s great is<br />
that a majority of the faculty are all professionals. Sometimes in<br />
universities you have faculty members that are academics, but<br />
at AMDA you have faculty members that are professionals—and<br />
the work ethic you need to succeed as a professional performer<br />
is passed on to the students. I think the fact that you have<br />
devoted professionals teaching really sets AMDA apart. Every<br />
single faculty member that I work with is a professional. Really,<br />
I think schools are their teachers, and I think that AMDA has the<br />
best teachers in all areas of theatre.<br />
Q And what can those teachers give students?<br />
A<br />
What AMDA does is create people with an appreciation for<br />
the theatre, and what goes into making theatre. And they have<br />
incredible facilities to do this. They’re in a space that used to be<br />
the Alvin Ailey building in New York City and they’ve completely<br />
Marcia Milgrom Dodge<br />
“I think the fact that you have<br />
devoted professionals teaching<br />
really sets AMDA apart.”<br />
—Marcia Milgrom Dodge<br />
40 October 2010 • www.stage-directions.com