ABOUT

THE Director’s Forum

Now entering the third year, The Director's Forum is a program offered by the Brown Arts Institute in collaboration with the Wilbury Theatre Group. The partnership connects two of Providence's most active performance arts organizations — BAI, which presents performance work from artists around the world, and the Wilbury Group, a nationally recognized experimental theater company that has called Providence home for sixteen seasons — to create something neither does alone: a sustained, open conversation about the how and the why of the work being made here.

Led by Wilbury Founder and Artistic Director Josh Short, participants meet weekly on Monday nights to engage with the productions, questions, and ideas animating Providence's performance community. Sessions draw on work from BAI, Wilbury, and local artists and arts organizations, and regularly include direct conversation with directors, designers, and creative teams.

Participants come away with a clearer sense of how performance work gets made, what choices are behind it, and how to talk about it with artists and with each other. Complimentary tickets to some performances are provided for registered participants actively engaged in the weekly sessions.

Programming is free and open to Providence-area community members, Brown students and faculty, and anyone with a serious interest in live performance.

The Director's Forum meets Monday nights, 6:00–8:00 p.m., at Brown University's Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, 154 Angell Street. Sessions run October 5 through November 30, pause for winter break, and resume February 1 through April 26. Accepted participants commit to the fall session, with the option to continue in the spring.

SESSIONS MEETS MONDAY EVENINGS from 6:00pm - 7:30pm

OCTOBER 5 - NOVEMBER 30 (Fall Semester)

FEBRUARY 1 - APRIL 26 (Spring Semester)

 
Space will be limited and offered based on application. This is a competitive application process. Acceptance decisions are made with an eye toward building a strong group representing a range of backgrounds and perspectives, not simply the most credentialed applicants.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR:

Josh Short is the Founder and Artistic Director of Providence's Wilbury Theatre Group, where his directing credits include Girl From the North Country; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812; Fun Home; The Humans; Octet; American Idiot; The Father; Once; and Krapp’s Last Tape, among many others. His work also includes the development of numerous new plays and musicals, including premieres of From Here to Where by Umberto Crenca and the Gillen Street Ensemble; Lifted by Charlie Thurston; and several new works by Darcie Dennigan, including The Pleiades; RESCUE! Or, The Fish; Dolores Goes to Poetry City; and Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight. He is the Founder of FRINGEPVD: The Providence Fringe Festival, the facilitator of The Director's Forum at Brown Arts Institute, and an instructor of Theatre Production and Live Arts at Rhode Island School of Design. 

For a complete bio and list of credits visit thewilburygroup.org/leadership