Deron S. Williams is a scholar, a freelance dramaturg and director, and an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Affiliate Faculty Member of the Institute for Racial Justice at Loyola University Chicago. He also serves as Loyola’s theatre program’s Dramaturgy Mentor, overseeing and mentoring students in production and new play development dramaturgy. As a scholar of African American theatre, directing methods, pedagogies, and performance, Williams is the editor of Contemporary Black Theatre & Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity alongside Drs. Khalid Y. Long and Martine Kei Green-Rogers. Williams’s creative scholarship includes various new and canonical productions. He is especially interested in new play development, documentary theatre, musical theatre, and theatrical works created by Black artists with black-centered stories. His directing and associate directing credits include 1776 (Marriott Theatre), FAIRVIEW (Loyola University Chicago), Trouble In Mind (Timeline Theatre); Africa To America: A Celebration Of Who We Are, The Brothers Size, Blood At The Root (Eastern Connecticut State University); The Exonerated (Spectrum Theatre); The Lil’ Flo, And Big Moe Show! (Hartford Stage), Aladdin Jr., Mulan Jr. (Kennedy Center), Clybourne Park (Texas Tech University), Crowns (Albany State University), and two new play development projects at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, JUMP by Charly Evon Simpson and Leftovers by Josh Wilder. His dramaturgy credits include Notes From The Field, The Lehman Trilogy, Trouble In Mind, Boulevard Of Bold Dreams (TimeLine Theatre); Toni Stone (Goodman); and Anon(ymous) (Middle Tennessee State). He has also worked as a new play development dramaturg for Organized Chaos by Pravin Wilkins, Annelies by Oded Gross, and Without A Formal Declaration Of War by Anya Pearson during the Great Plains Theatre Conference (GPTC) in Omaha, NE. Williams is currently serving as Associate Director for Marriott Theatre’s production of White Christmas and as director for Loyola University Chicago’s production of Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes From The Field.
As the recipient of multiple fellowships and awards, including the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Arts Research with Communities of Color (ARCC) Fellowship, North Star Collective (NSC) Faculty Fellowship, and Middle Tennessee State University’s Underrepresented Minority Dissertation Fellowship, Williams has presented research at national and international conferences and given invited talks at multiple high schools, colleges, and universities. He serves on the Community-Based Theatre and Civic Engagement award committee and Advocacy committee. He previously served on the Executive Board for the Black Theater Association, SDC Initiative Chair for Region 1 – American College Theatre Festival, Registration Coordinator for the August Wilson Society (AWS) 2020 conference, and the National Association of Dramatic & Speech Arts, Inc. (NADSA). He is also an Associate Member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Union.
Williams holds a B.A. in Theatre from Albany State University (GA), an M.A. in Arts Administration from Eastern Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in Theatre from Texas Tech University. Before joining the faculty at Loyola University Chicago, he taught at Eastern Connecticut State University, Middle Tennessee State University, and Albany State University.