Academics Anna Bean - Guest Director

Annemarie "Anna" Bean was a Visiting Associate Professor in the African American Studies Program at Wesleyan University in 2007-08, and also taught at Williams College from 1998 to 2007, where she was the founder and coordinator of the Performance Studies Program and Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre. She currently teaches at the Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School in Adams, Massachusetts in English Language Arts; and at the Community College of Vermont in Bennington.

Anna's research focuses on African American drama and performance in the 19th and 20th centuries.  She has co-edited and edited two anthologies, and has recently completed work on a manuscript on cross-race and cross-gender popular culture performances.

Teaching Philosophy

Anna looks to cultivate excitement in her productions by creating interplay between her directing and her practice as a scholar: "I try to emulate the model of the director/dramaturg."  The plays she has directed have evoked a myriad of actor responses, including anger, surprise, relief and guilt.  The student usually feels grounded in his or her own perspective because it is based in the rehearsal work, rather than in opinion or culturally based information.  Anna believe this is essential in facilitating a comfortable and meaningful environment for making a play."

B.A., Wesleyan University; M.A., University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., New York University; Marlboro College 2010 -