Career
Dodge got her BA in Speech Communications & Theatre from the University of Michigan in 1977, where she also pursued a minor in dance. She continued with postgraduate studies in jazz, tap and modern dance.
Dodge served as associate choreographer for the Broadway musical High Society (1998). Off Broadway, she choreographed Life is Not A Doris Day Movie (1982), Romance Language (1984), Romance in Hard Times (Public Theatre 1989), Closer Than Ever (1989), The Waves (1990), and The Loman Family Picnic (Manhattan Theatre Club 1993).
She choreographed Sullivan and Gilbert at the Kennedy Center in 1983 and directed Tell Me on a Sunday (2002) with Alice Ripley at the Kennedy Center. [4] At the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., she choreographed On The Town (1989), Closer Than Ever, Merrily We Roll Along (1990), [5] and Of Thee I Sing (1992) [6] (Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Choreography). [7] She directed several productions of Ain't Misbehaving, first at Virginia Stage in 1991, followed by River Arts Repertory, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Huntington Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and the Philadelphia Drama Guild, receiving two Barrymore Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Best Musical. [8]
She also directed and choreographed Radio Gals (John Houseman Theatre, 1996) and Seussical for TheatreWorks USA (Lucille Lortel Theatre, 2007), receiving a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Choreography, and consulted for Cooking (Minetta Lane Theatre, 2004).
With the revival of Ragtime in 2009, she became the first woman to direct a major musical produced by the Kennedy Center. [9] This production was nominated for six Helen Hayes Awards and won four, including an Outstanding Director award for Dodge. The Broadway transfer of this production went on to receive 7 Tony nominations in 2010, including one for Dodge for Best Direction. [10]
For The Cape Playhouse, she directed Deathtrap starring Robert Petkoff and Alison Fraser; Crimes of the Heart starring Sandy Duncan; Accomplice with Stephanie Zimbalist and Richard Kind; Angel Street starring David McCallum, Jean Leclerc, and Mia Dillon; and Murder on the Orient Express. [11]
As resident director of the Phoenix Theatre Company at SUNY Purchase, Dodge directed and choreographed Ken Ludwig's Sullivan & Gilbert, starring George Grizzard, as well as High Spirits. She also directed The Crucifer of Blood and There's One in Every Marriage. [12]
She has directed and choreographed productions at the Music Circus in Sacramento, including The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Susan Egan, South Pacific with Kerry O'Malley (2006), [13] and Guys and Dolls (2009) with Gary Beach. [14]
In 2011, she directed a production of Chicago, [15] directed and choreographed The Three Musketeers at the Fredericia Theater in Denmark and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Reprise Theatre Company in Los Angeles, as well as productions of Simeon's Gift,The Who's Tommy, Once On This Island , and Hair and director of Fit To Print. At the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, Florida, she was the director for Dames at Sea , Anything Goes, Evita, and directed a performance of Blithe Spirit .
In 2012, Dodge directed and choreographed Hello, Dolly! at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre starring Vicki Lewis and Gary Beach. She directed Mark Brown's Around The World In 80 Days for the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, followed by a new production of The Music Man for the Glimmerglass Festival. [16]
Dodge's production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast at Olney Theatre Center was met with a mostly positive reception from critics. [17] Olney Theatre brought back the production in November 2022 after the previous run was canceled early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [18]
Writer
Marcia and Anthony Dodge, her husband, wrote their first play, the Edgar Award-nominated Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror and Marcia Dodge directed three productions from 2002 to 2005. [20]
Dodge was the dramaturge for Quanah by Larry Gatlin and Anthony Dodge. [21] Hats: The Musical, for which she wrote the book with Anthony Dodge, was presented by the Willows Theatre Company, Martinez, California, from November 23, 2009, through January 10, 2010. [22] Hats also ran in 2007 in several venues, including Las Vegas, Denver, New Orleans, and Chicago starring Melissa Manchester. [23] Anthony Dodge wrote Free Burt Lancaster and Venus Flytrap, and Marcia also directed readings of both plays at the Bay Street Theatre, and she directed a reading of Venus Flytrap at the LGBT+ Centre in NYC for Orange Hanky Productions in June 2008. [24]
