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our mission

The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans is a year-round professional theatre company committed to producing captivating, exciting, and moving plays with a major focus on the works of America's greatest playwright, Tennessee Williams. 

In the city which Williams called home and from which he drew abundant inspiration, The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans will engage our community and cultivate its relationship with Williams. 

We will accomplish this by mounting performances of well-known and rarely produced Williams plays, contributing to the scholarship of Williams and New Orleans, and educating our community onstage and off with unique and stimulating programming.

ABOUT US

Tennessee Williams was passionate about New Orleans. We are passionate about both.

 

Founded in 2015, we are the first theatre in the United States to focus exclusively on the works of America's greatest playwright, Tennessee Williams. 

 

We're dedicated to sharing Williams' unique brand of poetic and often expressionistic theatre with the New Orleans community—an audience which appreciates theatre events as rich, musical, and immersive experiences. We seek to produce Williams plays which are bold, unafraid, poignant, and staggering in their beauty—just as he wrote them.

 

Join us and we promise to create something intriguing for experienced and new theatre-goers alike. We look forward to collaborating with local artists and organizations to present the highest quality offerings possible. We aim to offer our audiences a chance to see every Tennessee Williams play at one time or another, in one iteration or another. We are sure that our supporters will be surprised and exhilarated by the breadth and diversity of Williams' masterful works.

The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams

PRODUCING ARTISTIC TEAM

Augustin J Correro

AUGUSTIN J CORRERO

Co-Founding/Producing Artistic Director

Augustin is the Founding Co-Artistic Director of The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans. He a Mississippi native who is proud to call New Orleans home. He is a director, acting coach, playwright, and Tennessee Williams scholar. In 2021, his book Tennessee Williams 101 was released. He has taught Tennessee Williams 101 as a lecture at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, the Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival, the St. Louis Tennessee Williams Festival, and other venues nationally. Directing credits for TWTC include Kingdom of Earth, Small Craft Warnings, Weird Tales (Williams world premieres), The Rose Tattoo, Dangerous Birds (If Agitated) featuring The Gnadiges Fraulein with other one-acts, The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, Camino Real, Not About Nightingales, One Arm by Moises Kaufman, The Mutilated, Suddenly Last Summer, The Glass Menagerie, and the COVID-era puppet spoof The Felt Menagerie. Other directing credits include Jesus Christ Superstar at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, [vampire]Medea at the 2012 Atlanta Fringe Festival, Afterwards for The Complete Theatre Company in New York, Suddenly Last Summer with the Columbus, Mississippi Tennessee Williams Tribute and Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, and various one-act plays and children's shows in Virginia. He served as assistant director for Obie Award-winner Austin Pendleton for his 2013 staging of A Streetcar Named Desire and also to Cosmin Chivu for his Drama League-nominated 2013 Off-Broadway production of The Mutilated by Tennessee Williams at the New Ohio Theatre in New York. He holds an M.F.A. in Theatre Performance Pedagogy from Virgnia Commonwealth University and a B.A. in Theatre from Mississippi University for Women. He was the Project Manager for the Tennessee Williams' Neighborhood Exhibit at the Gallier House on Royal Street. Augustin was named one of Gambit Weekly’s 40 Under 40 for 2019.

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Nick Shackleford

Co-Founding/Producing Artistic Director

Nick is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans now in it’s 5th season. Nick was named one of Gambit Weekly’s 40 Under 40 for 2019. Along with co-running TWTC, Nick is a multiple Big Easy Award Nominated Sound Designer. He has designed sound for The Mutilated, Suddenly Last Summer, One Arm (Big Easy Award Nomination), Not About Nightingales (Big Easy Award Nomination), Camino Real, The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, Small Craft Warnings, Kingdom of Earth, Dangerous Birds (If Agitated), The Rose Tattoo, & Weird Tales, which he also co-directed for TWTC and Suddenly Last Summer (Columbus, MS TWT). As an actor, select credits include: Dylan in The NOLA Project’s Talk Back, Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (Le Petit Theatre, Big Easy nomination), Enjolras in Les Misérables (Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre), Ned Weeks in the New Orleans premiere of The Normal Heart (Johnathan Mares Productions), and Finn in Gayland at the Marigny Opera House. Off-Broadway/NYC: Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, Woody - A New Musical, Uptown/Downtown: Selections of Rent in Concert. 

He studied theatre and directing at Marymount Manhattan College and also trained at The Michael Chekhov Acting Studio of NewYork.

STAFF

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MADELINE TALIANCICH

Production Manager

Madeline is the Production Manager of the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans. She grew up in the suburbs of New Orleans and considers this vibrant city her home. She has been working in theatre in some capacity all her life as an actor, director, stage manager, scenic carpenter, and scenic designer. Now a sophomore Theatre Arts major at Loyola University New Orleans, Madeline plans to focus on acting, stage management, and playwrighting. While at Loyola, she has been a scenic carpenter, electrician, assistant stage manager, and will soon be acting as the house manager and public relations assistant for the department’s fall productions of You Can’t Take it With You and Romeo and Juliet. Post-graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in Stage Management and continue to act on the side.

Professional credits include: Scenic Designer/Artist for Peter Pan Jr. (St. Philip Neri), Scenic Designer/Artist for Mulan Jr. (St. Philip Neri), Scenic Designer/Artist for James and the Giant Peach Jr. (St. Philip Neri), Scenic Designer/Artist for Mary Poppins Jr. (St. Philip Neri), Annelle Dupuy-DeSoto in Steel Magnolias (Rivertown Theaters), Scenic Carpenter (New Orleans Shakespeare Festival), Swing Stage Manager of Hamlet (New Orleans Shakespeare Festival), Stage Manager of The Glass Menagerie (TWTC), Stage Manager of Measure for Measure(The NOLA Project) and Stage Manager of Period of Adjustment (TWTC-December 2019).

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LEIGH-ANN SALLIS

Outreach & Engagement Coordinator

Leigh-Ann is a native of Mathiston, Mississippi with a BA in English and Master's of Public Policy and Administration, both from Mississippi State University (just a hop and a skip from Tennessee Williams' home town of Columbus, MS!). By day, she serves as Senior Program Coordinator of Internal Medicine, Student Programs at Tulane. She has lived in New Orleans since 2013, and is a long-time lover and supporter of theatre. In addition to supporting local theatre, she also volunteers with the Multiple Sclerosis Society and is a loving puppy parent to Gus and Sophie, two senior pets. Her favorite Williams play is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but she admits it's tough to name a favorite!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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MICHAEL GILLETTE, M.D., M.S.P.H

President

Michael Gillette is a physician and classically trained composer who joined the TWTC board in 2017. Previously,  Michael worked with the company on sound design and original composition for their productions of The Mutilated and Camino Real. Michael studied music composition at the Hartt School and his interests range from traditional orchestral music to avant-garde fusion. Michael is in on faculty at the Tulane School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Tulane RIGHT Global Health Program. He is a resident of the Historic Lower 9th Ward and is committed to the resiliency and artistic vibrancy of our city.

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AUGUSTIN J CORRERO, M.F.A

Vice President

Augustin is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of TWTC. 

See his staff bio above.

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LORNA SEYBOLT, M.D.

Secretary

Lorna is a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist. Originally from New England she moved to New Orleans 10 years ago and works with people living with HIV and hepatitis at a community health center in the city. She has had a lifelong interest in the performing and visual arts and balances medicine with writing and photography.

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SCOTT R. KING

Interim Treasurer

Scott King lives in New Orleans and New York.  After a career on Wall Street as a biotechnology investment analyst, he became a serial entrepreneur specializing in autologous stem cell therapy.  Scott and his partner Dave Hurlbert founded the Marigny Opera House.  He is also a composer working currently on the musical Perfectly Imperfect.

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Gwendolyn Foxworth, BSN, MSN, FNP, CDC

Board Member

Gwendolyne Foxworth is a native of North Carolina and a spiritual native of New Orleans, LA, where she has resided for more than 35 years. She is a graduate of Hampton University, Hampton VA / BSN; University of Alabama in Birmingham / MSN, and Post Masters Certification / FNP from LSUHSC. She is a Nurse Practitioner currently practicing part time in the area of Diabetes Care and Education. She has had a lifelong passion for science and the arts! 

She inherited her passion for Theatre from her Mother, who was a High School French and English teacher, as well as Drama Club Director. She has a particular interest and commitment to creating and supporting opportunities for disadvantaged youth to participate and develop potential talent and life enhancing appreciation for Theatre Arts!

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LaKesha Glover, M.B.A

Board Member

LaKesha Glover is the founder and executive producer of Tootsie Productions, which is in production for a web-series called Rosebud. Ms. Glover moved back to New Orleans in 2015 after working as a Director of Education at the Boys and Girls Club in Los Angeles for over 7 years. Ms. Glover has performed in several productions around the Greater New Orleans Area and has made TWTC her home since their second show of the first season, when she starred in Small Craft Warnings. LaKesha believes in TWTC's mission to highlight such an important playwright, who fell in love with the city of New Orleans the same way she has.

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JEFFREY LAHOSTE

Board Member

Jeffrey LaHoste founded Tectonic Theater Project with Moisés Kaufman. He was nominated for a Best Play Tony Award for 33 Variations and an Emmy Award as a writer of the HBO film adaptation of The Laramie Project. Laramie won the Humanitas Prize, the National Board of Review, and the GLAAD Media Award, and was the opening night selection of the Sundance Film Festival. Jeffrey wrote The Very Extraordinary Mr. Law, which was presented at the Colorado New Play Festival. He teaches Moment Work, Tectonic’s method for devising theater.

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ELEANOR PRITCHARD, PhD

Board Member

Nori Pritchard is a Ben Franklin alum who holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. She is a co-owner of NOLA Craft Culture in Mid-City and mother to two little boys, Matthew and Tommy, who she is raising in Mid-City with her husband Nathaniel Twarog.

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JAMES C. MARCHANT, J.D., Ph.D.

Board Member

Dr. James C. Marchant is the Associate Director of the School of the Arts and the Program Coordinator for the graduate program in Arts Administration at the University of New Orleans. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Lyrica Baroque and Social Theory, Politics, & the Arts. Previously, Dr. Marchant headed programs in Arts Administration at Elon University, Southern Utah University, and the Savannah College of Art & Design. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from The Ohio State University in the area now known as Arts Administration, Education and Policy. He also received his Juris Doctor degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law and his undergraduate degree from The American University. He has worked extensively in the nonprofit sector, both with arts and social service organizations. Dr. Marchant is interested in issues surrounding controversial and provocative art, their place in social justice development throughout the world, and the effect they have on nonprofit arts organizations and their communities. He is also interested in how the arts are utilized to develop, strengthen, and revitalize communities. 

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NICK SHACKLEFORD

Board Member

Nick is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of TWTC. 

See his staff bio above.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

A.J. Allegra

Joshua Bernard

Beau Bratcher

Cosmin Chivu

Brenda Currin

Ryan Delaney, Esq.

Spencer Doyle

Joseph Furnari

Ryan Glorioso, CSA

Dr. Kenneth Holditch

Thomas Keith

James Kelley

Karen Kohlhaas

Robert Lucien Larrivière

Rebecca Mark

Joey Olsen 

Paul J. Willis

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