New Monan Professor in Theatre Arts

Dawn Meredith Simmons, a 2023 Elliot Norton Award-winning director, as well as a producer, playwright, arts administrator, cultural consultant, and educator, has joined Boston College’s Theatre Department this academic year as the Monan Professor in Theatre Arts.

Through her artistic practice, Simmons has long been a trailblazer in fighting racism and encouraging diversity in the theater community. She is the co-producing artistic director of Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theater company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater.

Founded to inspire, empower, and create a platform for underrepresented artists in Boston and New England, the company's name “signifies a communal spirit, inspiring us to serve communities of color and produce art that is inclusive of all communities and welcoming to all audiences, to inspire a more tolerant and inclusive Boston,” according to its website.

“We are so excited to have Dawn Meredith Simmons as this year’s Monan Professor,” said Theatre Department Chair and Professor of the Practice Luke Jorgensen. “She brings a wealth of energy and experience to our students, as one of the cofounders of the Front Porch Arts Collective. She is an experienced arts administrator who is serving as a source of real-world information for our students in Theatre Management. She also has been directing everywhere in Boston, with several shows in the past few years. In her class, students are taking a fresh look at ‘MacBeth.’”

Her Devising class this semester provides students with the opportunity to work collaboratively to interpret the theme of identity in William Shakespeare’s “MacBeth.” The class explores how lived experience, social location, and other factors can shape the telling/retelling of classic text.

This interpretation—based on the experiences, artistic impulses, and ideas of the class contributors—will culminate in a new script inspired by “MacBeth,” which Simmons will direct. The play will be performed next March.

Simmons’s work has been presented by Huntington Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Wheelock Family Theatre, Lyric Stage Company, JAG Productions, among others.

The Buffalo native received a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Buffalo, and went on to study playwriting at Boston University.

The Monan Professorship in Theatre Arts was established in 2007 by a gift to Boston College in honor of the late University Chancellor and former BC President J. Donald Monan, S.J. The position, which also commemorates the late trustee E. Paul Robsham, enables the Theatre Department to bring nationally and internationally known professionals to Boston College to teach and work with undergraduate students.