Bio & News
[photo cred - headshot on main page - Casey Ford Photography]
![Music Director, Hairspray, The University of Mississippi 2013 [photo cred. Michael Barnett]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56982077cbced6aeb746a9f2/1452810943957-C4MSA20K2X20U7573DXE/image-asset.jpeg)
Music Director, Hairspray, The University of Mississippi 2013 [photo cred. Michael Barnett]
NEWS
OUT NOW!
CONVERSATIONS WITH WOMEN IN MUSICAL THEATRE LEADERSHIP through Routledge Publishing.
Conversations with Women in Musical Theatre Leadership features 15 interviews with Broadway-level musical theatre music directors, directors, writers, composers, lyricists, stage managers, orchestrators, music arrangers, and other women in positions of leadership. Built around extensive interviews with women at the top of their careers in the creative and leadership spheres of musical theatre, these first-hand accounts offer insight into the jobs themselves, the skills that they require, and how those skills can be developed.
Amanda is also the author of book chapter “Women in CCM (Contemporary Commerical Music) in the Rowan & Littlefield book So You Want to Sing Music by Women.
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON LINK TO SO YOU WANT TO SING MUSIC BY WOMEN
Yea Sara Barielles!
RENT RENT RENT RENT REEEEEENT!
Rent, directed by Amanda, played at Kennesaw State University from April 6 - 16, 2023, featuring the amazing students of the KSU Department of Theatre and Performance Studies!
NEXT TO NORMAL
Amanda directed Next to Normal for the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre concert series in July 2022, which received rave reviews and was brought back for a remount in February 2023. Atlanta Theatre Buzz called the production “nothing short of brilliant” and audiences gave moving reviews. Amanda was also honored with a BroadwayWorld Award for Best Direction of a Musical (Professional) in 2023 for this production.
SHE’S A REBEL
Amanda has worked with Buicentennial Productions, based out of Atlanta, to create an original show that’s more than a concert - a tribute to some of America’s amazing women in pop/rock music who write music. A show full of over 60 of your favorite hits - arranged into boppin’ medlies - all written by women! Carole King, Beyonce, Selena, Loretta Lynn, Taylor Swift, and more. Featuring an all-girl cast and an all-girl band that ROCKS!
She’s a Rebel debuted in September 2021 and is available to tour to YOUR venue!
OLD NEWS
2021
Check out the World Premiere of Thumbelina at Kennesaw State University, written by Amanda and her amazing STUDENTS alongside the award-winning director Rosemary Newcott!
Fully produced in Spring 2021!
Amanda served as MD/Conductor for Nine In Concert through the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, which streamed to audiences around the world in May of 2021.
BROADWAY WORLD ARTICLE: NINE IN CONCERT
Amanda put together some original arrangements for the Atlanta Lyric’s Best of Broadway Revue in June 2021, and served as MD/Pianist/Conductor for the show. Check out more info here.
2020
Amanda was commissioned to write an original musical for the Cobb County board of Education to be used in schools during virtual learning called WE MADE HISTORY, which was written, rehearsed, and filmed in Fall of 2020. Additionally, she served as MD and Music Arranger for a bunch of virtual revues and cabarets across Atlanta.
2019
In December of 2019, Amanda worked with Synchronicity Theatre (again!) on Ella Enchanted as Music Director, with the Atlanta Lyric on Your Happy Holiday as MD/Arranger, and at KSU as the Music Director/Pianist/Conductor of Bring It On.
Spring 2019 brought the epic musical RAGTIME at Kennesaw State University, which Amanda directed. A cast of 40, an orchestra of 14, and a tale of millions.
May 2019 brought a beautiful run of Songs for a New World with Buicentennial Productions. (music director)
Photo cred: Sydney Lee Photography
In Summer of 2018, Amanda Music Directed and Piano/Conducted The Color Purple for Actors Express Theatre Company in Atlanta, GA. After a successful run, Amanda won a Suzi Bass Award for Music Direction! The show also won Best Overall Production: Musical.
Credit: Actors Express
2018
Amanda joined Synchronicity Theatre as Music Director for A Year with Frog and Toad! She then hopped over to the Atlanta Lyric to Arrange and Music Direct Your Happy Holiday - a successful holiday extravaganza! She has music directed and provided additional arrangements for more recent incarnations of this Revue in 2019 and 2020.
IN Fall 2018…
Amanda helped out as Vocal Director for her favorite musical of all time, Parade. Produced by The Wallace Buice Theatre Company in Marietta, GA - where the story of Parade takes place.
BACK IN 2017….
2017 was a very busy year! Amanda started the year working on the Alliance Theater world premiere of Cinderella & Fella as a Music Assistant, transcribing & copying new music for the production!
2017 also brought music direction projects at:
Atlanta Lyric Theatre (Jesus Christ Superstar)
photo courtesy of Jennie T. Anderson Theater®
Six Flags Over Georgia (Can't Stop the Feeling Revue)
Actors Express (Little Shop of Horrors)
photo courtesy of Actors Express®
Poster design: Stephanie K. Tobacco
In Fall of 2017, Amanda had the privilege of directing Heathers The Musical at Kennesaw State University.
"The entire ensemble, led by director Amanda Morgan, really does shine in this show. The cast remains versatile in managing multiple roles, manipulating set pieces and, most importantly, being bitchin'..." - BroadwayWorld
"With the number of seasoned performers that Kennesaw State University churns out of its undergraduate Theatre and Performance Studies department, you might expect that their shows are top-notch. Your assumption would be correct. " - BroadwayWorld
Complete BroadwayWorld Review of Heathers
2016
Back in Fall 2016, Amanda had the honor of working as a music assistant on the world premiere & Pre-Broadway run of The Prom at the Alliance Theater, followed by her work as music director of Courtenay's Cabaret, also at The Alliance. She also directed A Man of No Importance at Kennesaw State University.
In Spring 2016, Amanda was seen onstage at Kennesaw State University as the Adult Female roles in Spring Awakening, then served as director and music director for The Atlanta Lyric's production of Seussical Jr!
2015
Amanda spent the Summer of 2015 at Post Playhouse in beautiful Northwestern Nebraska, serving as Music Director & Assistant MD for 5 musicals, in repertory! She music directed Grease, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and All Shook Up, and played 2nd keys for A Man of No Importance and Cinderella.
BIOGRAPHY
Originally from San Diego, California, Amanda Wansa Morgan is a professional music director, director, actor, and educator based in the Atlanta, GA area since 2015. She serves as the Artistic Director of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University where she is also the Coordinator of Musical Theatre and Associate Professor. At KSU, she teaches courses in musical theatre performance, acting, voice, and musical theatre history and literature. Prior to joining the faculty at KSU, Amanda served on faculty at The University of Mississippi from 2012-2015 and worked full time at Charleston Stage - South Carolina's largest professional theatre - as the Director of Music Education from 2009-2012, where she music directed, directed, sound designed, and taught numerous types of theatre classes for all ages.
Since 2009, Amanda has been composing original musical theatre work, having had professional productions of her adaptations of The Velveteen Rabbit and A Christmas Carol fully produced. She has arranged and/or composed original music for productions of Polaroid Stories, Cullad Wattah, The Piano Lesson, Twelfth Night, Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Don Juan Comes Back from the War. Her original TYA musical Mary Had a Little Ham, based on the 2003 book of the same name, is available for productions. She is also working on a new, original musical about women in firefighting.
Amanda has worked professionally at a number of regional theaters, which include: The Alliance Theater, The Atlanta Lyric Theater, The Jennie T. Anderson Theater, Actors Express, Synchronicity Theater, Six Flags Over Georgia, Buicentennial Productions, Wallace Buice Theater Company, Post Playhouse, Playhouse on the Square, Charleston Stage, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Seaside Music Theatre, Theatre Southeast, Osceola Center for the Arts, and Oxford Shakespeare Festival. She is the 2018 Suzi Bass Award Winner for Best Musical Direction for her work on The Color Purple at Actors Express and a 2023 nominee for her direction of Next to Normal.
Music Direction credits include The Color Purple, Once on this Island, The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee, A Year with Frog and Toad, Little Shop of Horrors, Jesus Christ Superstar, Avenue Q, The Wiz, Chicago, Cabaret, All Shook Up, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Grease, The Most Happy Fella, Hairspray, The Rocky Horror Show, Always Patsy Cline, Thumbelina, Nine In Concert, The Spitfire Grill, Joseph...Dreamcoat, The Thoroughly Modern Millie, and more.
Direction credits include Next to Normal, The Spongebob Musical, Rent, Ragtime, The Light in the Piazza, Heathers, A Man of No Importance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Marisol, Time Stands Still, Bunnicula, Alexander and the Terrible...Day, etc.
Professional acting credits include The 25th Annual ... Bee (Rona Lisa Peretti), Urinetown (Pennywise), Love's Labours Lost (Princess of France), Tony & Tina's Wedding Orlando (Tina), Ragtime, Beauty & the Beast, The Merchant of Venice, etc.