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What's more indispensable than an adviser in-the-know?
Amy Morton, an ensemble member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, first met actor Monica Payne in 1999, when Payne was her student in Steppenwolf's summer training intensive. Payne was six years out of undergrad, doing her best to navigate the Chicago theatre scene. "I just knew she had a whole lot of talent," remembers Morton. The following year, Payne got her first taste of an Equity-theatre rehearsal process as Morton's assistant director for Steppenwolf's production of Conor McPherson's The Weir. Morton also cast Payne as an understudy in the show, which proved a steppingstone to future roles at Steppenwolf. Since then, alongside the friendship that has grown between them, Morton has continued to mentor Payne, both in her acting career and in the art of teaching acting. Next summer, while Morton rehearses a new show, Payne will take over her Meisner class at the School at Steppenwolf, after having spent nine weeks this past summer shadowing her as a teacher.
AMY MORTON: You tend to gravitate toward the people in this business who are in it for the same reasons you are. It was...