Marshall brings a diverse career in the arts to her new post at CTM.
When Children's Theater of Madison set out to find its first managing director, the search committee cast the net far and wide. Artistic director Roseann Sheridan had overseen the creative direction and financial management of the company since she began her job there in 2007. But CTM has big plans for the future. It was the right time to find a strong partner for Sheridan, someone to help the company take its next steps.
Enter Amy Marshall.
"From the first time I had contact with her... I was struck by her poise, knowledge and articulateness," Sheridan says. "We hit it off right away."
Marshall felt the synergy, too.
"From the moment I walked off the plane, I knew we were going to make great partners," Marshall says.
Chemistry between an artistic director and a managing director is important. The artistic director is the person charged with making creative decisions for an arts organization, while the managing director often raises funds, oversees marketing and keeps a close eye on the bottom line. Business decisions and creative choices are made in tandem.
Marshall says chemistry between these two people isn't just important; it's critical.
"The best way forward is with so much open communication and mutual respect that you know what the other person is thinking. When I talked to Roseann, I knew she would be that kind of person. Kind of like a sibling."
The road to Madison
Marshall is new to Madison but no stranger to the Midwest. She grew up in Carbondale, Ill., where her father was chair of the English department at Southern Illinois University. He believed in immersing his children in as many cultural opportunities as possible. Carbondale is a small community, but Marshall's father took her to see just about everything that came to the local performing arts center, be it ballet or Monty Python.
After high school, Marshall was set to follow in her dad's footsteps and seek an English degree at Chicago's DePaul University. But one day her dad invited her along to Milwaukee's Marquette University, where he was attending an Irish studies conference. Walking into the college's theater was a watershed moment.
"I just knew that was where I was supposed to be for the next four years. It was the right size and very diverse," Marshall says.
Most importantly, the program encouraged students to study the technical aspects of theater, in addition to performing.
"They made sure you did it all, which really prepared me for everything that came next," Marshall says.
Like many college actors, Marshall aspired to perform after graduation, but she ultimately decided she didn't have a thick enough skin to make it in that side of the business. Instead she applied for a job working behind the scenes at a theater company.
Marshall's first position was as a production assistant for Milwaukee's Florentine Opera. At age 23, just 18 months after starting her job, she was promoted, becoming director of production. By then she'd been put in charge of two major operas, Aida and Madame Butterfly. She pulled off both on time and under budget. These are huge accomplishments, but still, director of production is an awfully big title for someone so young. Did people take her seriously?
"Some yes and some no," she recalls. "I made mistakes, of course. At 23, you don't know. And you don't know what you don't know yet. I credit the [Florentine's] general manager for having a lot of patience with me and allowing me to make mistakes, grow from them and get better that way."
Acknowledging the GM for her own early accomplishments is trademark Marshall: humble, thoughtful and willing to share the spotlight. While she takes her work seriously, she takes herself far less so. She smiles and laughs easily. She wears suits to donor meetings but prefers casual outfits in the office, where she likes an atmosphere that welcomes anyone's suggestions. Marshall says the phrase that drives her crazy most often is "not gonna happen." Those words are the antithesis of her can-do approach. At the Florentine and the positions that followed, she proved time and again that "not gonna happen" just wasn't so.
In 1999 Marshall became company manager at Milwaukee Ballet. Once again, she was surprised by two promotions, the first to director of operations and then, in 2004, to executive director. At the time she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "If they were grooming me for this, they weren't telling me. It pretty much came out of the blue." Good thing Marshall enjoys a challenge.
As we chat, Marshall throws her hand in the air like an eager student. She's trying to prove a point, and it works like a charm.
"Pick me! Pick me! I'll do that!," she says, laughing. Then, more seriously, she adds, "There are two things about the arc of my career that I like. One is that it's always about 'Pick me! I'll do it!,' which leads to excitement and fun. I like that part, and I like that I've been in all sorts of roles in the theater. Ultimately, it's nice for me to work with [CTM production manager] Mike Lawler because I was the PM at the Florentine for so long. I can be a better leader and manager because of the diversity of my arts career."
Before taking the CTM position, Marshall was the CEO of the Olney Theatre Center in Maryland, located right outside Washington, D.C. The opportunity to explore a place beyond her own backyard appealed to her, as did the energy of a major urban center.
"The pace is what excited me about being there," she says, "and the pace is what made me want to come back." Marshall calls D.C. and the Olney a "wonderful education," but the experience made it clear that she's a Midwesterner at heart and made her certain that she wanted to return to the region.
She didn't leave before making her mark on the Olney, though. During her tenure, she helped double financial contributions to the organization and expanded the donor base. She also made concrete changes to the kinds of shows offered, choosing to focus on big, family-friendly musicals like The Sound of Music and Annie, titles patrons recognized before they bought tickets.
Marshall says it's important to balance known quantities with riskier work.
"Just because it may sound like an overly commercial title doesn't mean it doesn't mean something to people, that it doesn't resonate. It is important to do lesser-known works, but you have to raise money underneath them so that the program is supported going in. That takes away some of the risks," she says.
At Olney, Marshall's formula proved successful, phenomenally so. The Sound of Music was the highest-grossing show in the 75-year history of the theater.
Even as Marshall found success in Maryland, she wanted to return to the Midwest. Madison held appeal. Her husband, Dean, taught music to kindergartners for 20 years, and when the pair lived in Milwaukee, he performed with Madison Opera. Marshall says it was fun to come with him to Madison, and to attend performances as a supportive spouse, not an employee of the company. She also has fond memories of Madison from her college days when she and her friends spent time on State Street. Her office window now looks down on the same area.
Marshall divides her time between that CTM office and Overture Center across the street, where CTM shows are performed. In her free time, she's been visiting some of Madison's other cultural leaders, including Deb Gilpin from Madison Children's Museum, Jennifer Uphoff Gray from Forward Theater Company and Kathryn Smith from Madison Opera. Marshall knows that, as far as Madison is concerned, she once again "doesn't know what she doesn't know," but she aims to find out. She and Sheridan share an ambitious vision for CTM, and Marshall believes getting to know the community is where it all begins.
Ambitions and anniversaries
Marshall has arrived right before a major milestone for CTM: The company turns 50 during the 2015-16 season. Marshall would like CTM to host its first gala during this season, if a large gift can be obtained to underwrite it. Overall, she thinks CTM is in a good financial position to do so thanks to its $4 million endowment and relationship with Overture Center, which she believes is very invested in keeping its resident companies. She reveals that Sheridan plans to bring back To Kill a Mockingbird, which has ties to local school curriculum, for the anniversary season. There's also a "flashy title" planned, but Marshall is keeping that one "close to the vest for now."
Marshall and Sheridan are also considering moving CTM to a new space. Their current office is located over the Fanny Garver Gallery. Marshall says that while the owners have been "incredibly generous," CTM has plans to expand. Just last week, Marshall and Sheridan visited Milwaukee's First Stage, the largest children's theater in Wisconsin, which has lots of space for classes.
"We were looking at their youth art center thinking, 'Would this be something we could bring to Madison one day?' It's on our dream list," Marshall says.
When Marshall dreams, she dreams big, but she always has an eye on the concrete steps an organization must take to make dreams into reality. Web-based social networking has changed the way people like herself raise money, and she has demonstrated success in several areas doubters said wouldn't work, like pushing the envelope on how many times a donor can be approached.
Again, "not gonna happen" is a phrase Marshall just won't accept.
Targeted marketing is part of Marshall's vision, as is community outreach. On Halloween night, she combined the two. Dressed in orange tights and black cat ears, she welcomed hundreds of State Street visitors into Overture Center, where she and other CTM staff handed out thousands of pieces of candy, artfully stapled to an ad for CTM's production of A Christmas Carol, which opens Dec. 12 and stars American Players Theatre's John Pribyl as Ebenezer Scrooge.
"Pick me! Pick me!" Marshall says once again. Lucky for Madison, CTM did.
