Molly Hood (Co-Creator)
Molly Hood is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Cinema at Radford University in Radford, Virginia. She holds an MFA in Classical Acting from The Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. Molly continues to work as an actress, text coach, choreographer and director.
As a Professor at Radford University, she teaches a variety of courses including, Voice and Movement, Auditioning, Advanced Movement and Acting Shakespeare. Areas of academic inquiry include: staging theatrical intimacy, stage combat, historical performance, and staging jigs as part of Shakespearean performance.
Directing credits at RU include The Trojan Women, Silent Sky, The Drowsy Chaperone, Much Ado About Nothing, Crimes of the Heart and Macbeth. She has also directed for the Richmond Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Rep on Tour, and Hampden-Sydney College, as well served as a text coach on numerous Shakespearean productions.
Molly appeared as the title role in Hamlet for The Richmond Shakespeare Festival, which was filmed and broadcast on PBS by Virginia Public Media, and for which she received a Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Best Actress nomination. Additional acting credits include roles in The Comedy of Errors (RTCC Best Supporting Actress Award Winner), King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Oleanna (RTCC Best Supporting Actress nomination), Melissa Arctic and Barefoot in the Park.
Amanda Nelson (Co-Creator)
Dr. Nelson currently serves as the Graduate Program Director for the MFA in Theatre and the Primary Advisor for the MFA in Theatre in Arts Leadership program. She is a Senior Fellow for the Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT) and a Faculty Affiliate of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program.
She holds a PhD in Drama from Tufts University, an MA in Drama from San Francisco State University, and a BA in Drama from the University of California at Irvine. She now teaches a range of theatre and arts leadership courses.
As a multi-hyphenate, Dr. Nelson’s work is centered in collaborative multidisciplinary practices in the classroom, the rehearsal hall, and in her research and creative scholarship.
As a teacher and mentor, Dr. Nelson is committed to connecting the classroom to the professional field and in bringing the professional field to her classroom. Guest speakers, case studies, and field projects (pro bono consulting) are at the core of her experiential classes. She joined the faculty at Virginia Tech in 2013 to create and establish a new MFA program in Arts Leadership. The program is a full member of the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE). Before coming to Virginia Tech, she worked 11 years for the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York where she oversaw membership programs, government relations, corporate sponsorships, and foundation support.
As an arts advocate, she serves as an advisor to and consultant for arts organizations. Dr. Nelson facilitates planning processes and guides organizations through both internal and external campaigns to build awareness and garner support. She is a board member of Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia and The Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Virginia. She has also served on the board of Virginia's Blue Ridge Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).
As an arts researcher, Dr. Nelson examines current trends in arts management and theatre pedagogy. Her historical interests encompass a range of socio-political topics in 19th and 20th century American and British theatre, including the role of women actor-managers and producers. As a producer and director, her theatrical projects are far-ranging in scope and scale as well as in modes and modalities. Many of her creative projects explore the intersection of theatre and technology through the development of multidisciplinary performance projects that mix traditional theatre texts with new media, including spatial audio, video projections, and augmented reality. Often Neo-Victorian in approach and style, her collaborative new media projects include Shakespeare’s Garden: An Immersive Sound Stroll Through His Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Scenes, and Poe's Shadows: An Immersive Theatrical Installation.