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Amanda Jane Olmstead
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Biography
Dr. Amanda Jane Olmstead (she/her) is adjunct faculty in the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh, and in the English, Literature, and Communications Department at Golden Gate University. She received her PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, her MA in Performance Studies from New York University, and her BA in Theatre with a minor in Dance from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Olmstead is also the director of middle school summer programs and senior school musical choreographer at Shady Side Academy. Her research focuses on theatre history, musical theatre, choreography, embodied dramaturgy, and performance as a tool for communication. Her publications include an article titled “De´veloppe´: Katherine Dunham’s Diasporic Dance” in the Studies in Musical Theatre Journal and a chapter titled “Dance as Narrative: Storytelling Through the Ensemble Body” for the newly released collection titled Dance in Musical Theatre: A History of the Body in Movement (Methuen Drama, 2023).