AMDA Blog

After graduating AMDA, alumnus Robert Merante (hired for his first professional show a month before graduation, leaving for rehearsal a week after graduation) worked professionally in the theatre community for about five years steady. He toured Korea as well as the U.S., and did shows in several regional theaters. After living out of a suitcase for all that time, Robert discovered his true passion at his friend’s dancing school, and that was teaching. He gradually went from being a master class teacher at the studio to running their dance program and competition team. In time, he knew it was time to take the plunge and open his own dancing school. Read More

Kristin Towers-Rowles grew up in Los Angeles amidst a family of actors and singers. Her grandmother is the MGM Musical actress/singer Kathryn Grayson (Kiss Me Kate, Showboat, Anchors Away, and Camelot on Broadway). Her grandfather, Johnnie Johnston, was the star of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn on Broadway and was a popular recording artist in the 1940′s. Kristin’s mother grew up the child of these two stars and was a great actress/singer in her own right. Her parents met when her father, Robert Towers, was playing Snoopy in the LA Production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Ivar Theatre, right down the street from AMDA LA. Mr. Towers has acted in hundreds of plays and musicals and has been in many TV Shows and Films. Notably he played the older Benjamin in the film The Curious Case Benjamin Button.

Kristin came to AMDA at nineteen to pursue her own theatrical dream. After an impressive start to her stage career, everything changed abruptly when she was injured in a show. Told she couldn’t go back to performing, she left the theatre and started a family. After seven long years away Kristin knew she couldn’t give up her passion any longer. Kristin talks about her journey and what it has been like to return to the stage. Read More

AMDA alumni Michael Scott King (2004) and Mariya Tsekalo King (2005) both graduated AMDA but did not know one another while in school. They met after graduation at an alumni audition for a weekend of Tennessee Williams plays. Two and a half months later they were engaged, and two years later they started their own production company, Nunya Productions. Michael and Mariya had not only a love for acting in common, but also found a similar history of addiction and recovery. Finding their way through serious difficulties in their own lives, they have made it their mission to give back by donating funds from all of their productions to non-profit organizations in need. For their next event, Nunya will stage the new version of Neil LaBute’s Some Girls for the first time in NYC. The show will debut December 8th at the American Theatre of Actors’ Sargent Theatre (314 W. 54th Street). We spoke to the couple to find out how they made their own dream into a reality. Read More

AMDA Alumna Camille Burford graduated from the Studio program in NY in 2003. Camille will host the upcoming “Design Wars” on HGTV beginning on November 21st, however you may already know her as the host of “Food Wars” and “Best Places I’ve Ever Been” on the Travel Channel. We spoke to Camille to find out more about how she parlayed her adventuresome spirit into the job of a lifetime. Read More

After graduating AMDA, alumnus Bobby Hedglin Taylor went on to perform in musicals across the country.  He eventually left the theatre for a life in the circus.  Today, Bobby is working on the Broadway bound musical Chix6, creating picturesque aerial dances that defy gravity and give musical theatre choreography an entirely new perspective. We spoke with Bobby to get the full story on how his career came to life and what it takes to be called an aerial choreographer. Read More