Rachel Jett

Artistic Director

Rachel has been a faculty member at NTI since 1998 and is an alumnus of NTI, NTI-Advanced Directing, and the Moscow Art Theatre Semester. In 2007, she earned her MFA from the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Rachel was a Baryshnikov Fellow and named "One of 50 to Watch" by Dramatist Magazine. She was the first American aspirant to Andrei Droznin, Master Teacher of Movement at the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. Rachel is one of the few practitioners teaching this method of Russian movement in the United States. Her musical Hameko and Lulu written with composer Eric Day has had workshops at NYU, Barrington Stage, and Playwrights Horizons. She has also written the musicals Comfort with composer Sun Hee Huh and Sophia Venetia Voyager with Shoshana Greenberg and Moon Hee Park.

Currently, Rachel is working on a musical adaptation of Chekhov short stories with lyricist Julianne Wick-Davis and composer Will Aronson. She is a former company member of the Helen Hayes award-winning Stanislavsky Theater Studio and the Synetic Theater in Washington D.C. She has taught workshops at various universities and colleges, including Julliard, Wheaton, Wellesley, and Smith and has taught playwriting and movement for the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA). Rachel can be seen in STAG, a short film written by Donna DiNovelli, directed by Kevin Newbury, starring Sarah Steele. She just completed a run of The Body Artist by Don DeLillo adapted and directed by Jody McAuliffe at Abrons Arts Center in New York and Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke University.

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Scott Murphy

NMTI Artistic Associate

Scott received his MFA from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. With Nathan Christensen, he wrote Broadcast, workshopped at Playwrights Horizons, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Musical Theater Conference, and 11th Hour Theatre Company. The two also wrote The Giver, a musical adaptation of Lois Lowry’s novel, seen at National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Theatreworks Palo Alto, The Village Theatre, College of the Canyons, and Pennsylvania’s Festival of the Arts.

Scott is a recipient of the Richard Rodgers Award, the Jonathan Larson Award, the Dramatist Guild Fellowship, and the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. He was selected by Stephen Sondheim to receive the Garson/Kanin Award from the Theatre Hall of Fame. Scott has worked as a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Theatre’s Songwriting in the Schools Program and is a John Duffy Composer’s Institute fellow.

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Aanika Allen

Associate Director

Aanika Allen is the Associate Director of the National Theater Institute. Aanika oversees over 100 faculty & artists' schedules, collaborates to facilitate a diverse curriculum for students, and negotiates the domestic & international logistical communication with diverse theater artists. Aanika’s background consists primarily of production & stage management. She began her journey as a stage manager on productions in Philadelphia at Montgomery County Community College for the Lively Arts Series, The Walnut Street Theater, The Adrienne Theater and Neighborhood House. Aanika continued her work as the Production Manager for the O'Neill's summer conferences for the last 3 years. She is currently working on a documentary to showcase her passion for storytelling through film.

Amanda Kay Ritchie

Director of Marketing & College Relations

Amanda is a graduate of Providence College (B.A. American Studies, Business Studies, Theater) and has held positions with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, DeVos Institute of Arts Management), and Playwrights Horizons. In 2017 she co-produced the Broadway concert of Tales of the City, benefiting the O'Neill and The Trevor Project. Amanda has worked for the National Theater Institute since 2013 where she oversees recruitment, admissions, college & university relations, financial aid, marketing, and alumni relations. She is the primary contact for the Moscow Art Theatre Semester.

Jenna Doherty

NTI Program Coordinator

Jenna is a director and dramaturg who is passionate about artistic programming and education. She works with NTI as Program Coordinator, which means she arranges the logistics of the program's daily needs. A native New Yorker, she studied Drama and History at Vassar College, and is an alumna of NTI's Theatermakers '17 (Directing track) and Advanced Directing '18. Since her time as an NTI student, she has worked as an Artistic Apprentice with New York City Children's Theater, a Development Intern at Carnegie Hall, and most recently, Associate Company Manager/Housing Coordinator for the O'Neill's 2019 Summer season. She also recently directed The Effect for the Connecticut College Capstone Festival and has workshopped new plays with friends, including fellow alumna Lizz Mangan's Icarus and Amelia Earhart Had Tea This Morning presented at the Tank.

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