Backstage Physical Therapy: The Hidden Healthcare Team Keeping A Production Running
It’s the second Friday of a two-week run. There are only four performances left before the show closes. As I
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Marissa Schaeffer, PT, DPT, MBA, OCS, CSCS (she/her), is the owner of FlySpace Physical Therapy. A graduate of the SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, she earned her doctorate in physical therapy from Columbia University and her MBA from Quantic School of Buisness and Technology. Marissa previously served as a senior therapist at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and now leads all of FlySpace’s backstage and onsite contracts, including coordinating physical therapy services for touring companies. She directs FlySpace’s ongoing partnerships with St. Ann’s Warehouse, Theatre for a New Audience, and Steps on Broadway, and through FlySpace has supported countless dance companies—including HopeBoykinDance, Parsons Dance, and GALLIM—as well as multiple theatre and musical theatre productions, most recently Pirates! A Penzance Musical, Queen of Versailles, Anna Christie, Rocky Horror Show and others. In addition to presenting at performing arts medicine conferences, she has published research in academic journals and contributed to Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, and Dance Studio Life.