Hartford Stage Names Elizabeth Williamson New Associate Artistic Director

Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak has promoted Elizabeth Williamson, currently Senior Dramaturg and Director of New Play Development for the Tony Award-winning theatre, to the position of Associate Artistic Director. She replaces Maxwell Williams, now Artistic Director of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré in New Orleans.

"From Man in a Case to Hamlet, from Reverberation to a recent reading of Queens for a Year, Elizabeth Williamson has worked on an extraordinary range of projects since arriving at Hartford Stage and introduced us to some wonderful new voices in American theatre," Tresnjak said. "I look forward to working with her in her new role as the Associate Artistic Director of Hartford Stage."

Williamson has played a pivotal role in new play development at Hartford Stage since joining the theatre in 2012. Over the years, Williamson has developed new work with Brooke Berman, Bill Cain, Sheila Callaghan, Robert Freedman and Steven Lutvak, Kyle Jarrow, Julie Jensen, Kimber Lee, Matthew Lopez, Wendy MacLeod, T.D. Mitchell, Peter Morris, Brighde Mullins, Janine Nabers, Dan O'Brien, Dominique Serrand and Steve Epp, Octavio Solis, Bess Wohl, Lauren Yee, and Mary Zimmerman. More recently, Williamson translated La Dispute by French playwright Pierre Marivauxin the 50th anniversary season for Hartford Stage and helmed the theatre's Brand:New Festival in its final years. Williamson also helped launch the Hartford Stage world premieres of the Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (2012); Big Dance Theatre's Man in a Case (2013); Breath & Imagination (2013); and Matthew Lopez's Reverberation (2015).

"The last couple years have been a very exciting time to be at Hartford Stage," said Williamson. "I'm very proud of the work we've done, and I'm so grateful to Darko for giving me the opportunity to continue working with him in this new role."

Before joining Hartford Stage, Williamson served as Associate Artistic Director and Literary Manager for Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. A dramaturg, director, producer, and translator, she has also worked with About Face Theatre, the American Conservatory Theater, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Court Theatre, HERE Arts Center, the La Jolla Playhouse, Lorin Maazel's Castleton Festival, the Magic Theatre, Steppenwolf, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Williamson received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre Directing and Comparative Literature from Bennington College in Vermont and a Master's Degree in European Literature from Oxford University in England. She trained at the French school of physical theatre École Jacques Lecoq. Williamson received an NEA Fellowship in Literary Translation in 2007 and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

Celebrating its 51st season, Hartford Stage is one of the nation's leading resident theatres, known for producing innovative revivals of classics and provocative new plays and musicals, including 68 world and American premieres, as well as offering a distinguished education program, which reaches more than 20,000 students annually.

Hartford Stage has earned many of the nation's most prestigious awards, including four 2014 Tony Awards for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical by Darko Tresnjak, and the 1988 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Other national honors include Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, OBIE, and New York Critics Circle awards. Hartford Stage has produced nationally renowned titles, including the New York transfers of Enchanted April, The Orphans' Home Cycle; Resurrection (later retitled Through the Night); and Quiara Alegría Hudes' Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

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