“The Green Room: a peaceful space for progressive minds” is as a weekly informal conversation moderated by Williams professors and students, “The Green Room” will offer an opportunity for Williams students and community members to critically engage with the arts industries in which they someday hope to work, and learn from important leaders in those industries. The goal of this program will be to offer advice and mentorship resources to socially-minded, artistically conscious Williams students, but also to serve as a platform through which students can participate in a dialogue with leaders in the arts.
We’re inviting a diverse group of leading performing artists to join us in conversation over the course of the academic year, and we would love for you to be among them. “The Green Room: a peaceful space for progressive minds” will consist of serially-produced one-hour “episodes” in which speakers will be introduced, be given the opportunity to make a statement on your vision and advice, and later have a chance to answer questions from students. These discussions will take place via Zoom (or another interactive platform). All are welcome!
The series has been established by Omar Sangare, Chair and Professor of Theatre. This event was made possible, in part, thanks to the Lecture Committee and the Oakley Center for Humanities & Social Sciences, and to Professor Dorothy Wang, Chair of the American Studies at Williams.
NARDA E. ALCORN is a Professor and Stage Manager who has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally. In 2019, Narda was appointed Chair of the Stage Management Program at Yale School of Drama. She has been Head of Stage Management for New York University, DePaul University, and State University of New York at Purchase. She received DePaul’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2015 and The Robert Christen Award for Excellence in Technical Collaboration in 2017.
On Broadway, Narda has had collaborations with the Tony-winning directors Lloyd Richards, Kenny Leon, Bartlett Sher, and George C. Wolfe. She premiered four of Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright August Wilson’s Century Cycle plays and stage-managed two Broadway revivals of his work. Her New York and Regional credits include productions with Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Billy Crystal, Kevin Kline, Annette Bening, Phylicia Rashad, David Schwimmer, and Richard Foreman. Narda was a long-time stage manager on the Broadway production of The Lion King, and she has collaborated with the celebrated MacArthur Fellows, composer George E. Lewis, playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, and playwright Sarah Ruhl. She has recently co-published, with Lisa Porter, Stage Management Theory as a Guide to Practice: Cultivating a Creative Approach and the essay We Commit to Anti-Racist Stage Management Education for HowlRound Theatre Commons.