Leadership

“I fell in love with the theater and I thought, I don’t know how, but I want to be part of that.”

I grew up in Queens, and I lived at the last stop on the subway. Starting at the age of nine, my parents let me take the subway into the city, and they gave me $5, and I could buy a seat in the balcony at a Broadway show. I have memories of seeing Carol Channing in Hello Dolly, Angela Lansbury in Mame, Linda Lavin in It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman. And I fell in love with the theater and with what it felt like to be transported into another world. I thought that was the greatest.

And I thought, I don’t know how, but I want to do that. I want to be part of that. When I went to college, I ran a concert series, and I started a summer theater. And I just knew that I needed to be in this universe somehow. I went to work for George Wein, who was the founder of the Newport Jazz Festival. I’ve been doing this sort of thing in music and theater and television and festivals ever since. And it’s been a glorious ride.

I’m especially proud that Savion Glover has become such an engaged and active part of our family here. Savion has this amazing ability to connect and inspire young people, give them a sense of confidence in themselves, a feeling of ownership of the development of the work they’re doing.

This past summer, he directed and choreographed a new production of The Tap Dance Kid, which he starred in when he was 11 on Broadway. To watch him recreate this work with a bunch of kids, three quarters of whom have never been on the stage before, it’s just magical. I can’t imagine that any of the children who are in that cast will ever forget what it is like to spend six weeks with a genius who is as kind as Savion is. It’s one thing to be a genius, another thing to be kind. To combine those two things in service of young people’s growth is very moving to me. I don’t care whether they become dentists or accountants or dancers or actors or whatever, man, it’s going to stick with them.

Marcia has over 30 years of leadership and community service experience in the Newark community. She is Vice Provost for the Rutgers Newark campus. In this capacity, she is the chief advisor and advocate for the University’s student life and community affairs activities and services. She is also the creator of the Student Ambassadors Outreach Program at Rutgers-Newark, which builds bridges between the campus and Newark high school students. Marcia is the co-founder of the South Ward Junior Crimefighters, Harriet Tubman Girls Club, and the Women of Imani, a charitable organization serving poor and low-income families. After graduating from Rutgers Law, she served in the position of Assistant Dean of the Minority Student Program (MSP) and Director of Financial Aid. In 1999, she was appointed Philanthropic Manager for the Lucent Technologies Foundation. Marcia served as a labor relations specialist and program manager with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1980-1994.

She is the founder of Dare to Fly Productions whose focus is on classic stage plays, new original plays, experimental theater, mixed media productions and children’s theater. Marcia is also a poet and a singer. She resides in Long Branch, NJ.