Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green ’00
Professor of Theatre and Africana Studies
Major:
{{https://www.wm.edu/majorsminors/psychologicalsciences/index.php, Psychology}}
As an alumnus and faculty member, Professor of Theatre and Africana Studies Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green has both witnessed and played a significant role in shaping the history of the African American presence on William & Mary’s mainstage. Throughout the years, Omiyẹmi has helped lead a significant evolution of both the curriculum and productions. She became the first Black woman and alumna to become a tenured, full professor of theatre, and most of the Black theater productions that have been performed at William & Mary have been directed by Omiyẹmi, including The Children’s Hour and Crowns.
Omiyẹmi is working to develop a complete historical narrative of W&M’s African American theatre and Black theater (they’re different!) through archival research and interviews with key figures. She hopes that the history she is compiling will serve as a foundation on which the theatre department can continue to build. “William & Mary is the second oldest university in the nation and the fifth university according to research by Althea Hunt, inceptor of our university’s first dramatic club, to offer courses in theatre in the early 20th century. I am confident that we can be a regional theatre leader in this work.”
Learn more about Professor Green
- Watch Omiyẹmi's Tack Faculty Lecture, A History of African American Theatre and Black Theater at William & Mary.
- View her faculty bio.
