About this Artist

Pronouns: she/they

Theresa Columbus is a playwright, director, performance artist, and organizer. Because of her passion for the arts, she has been consistently creating original theater productions for over 25 years. The collaborative energy of many voices is part of what makes the work feel intimate and healing, as she works with ensembles to experiment with form in language, music, and movement. Performers inhabit a magical and poetic heightened world of everyday things. Theresa has been producing shows primarily in her home cities of Baltimore and Milwaukee and has also toured the US extensively. Her work was recently featured as part of the Milwaukee Women’s Art Library at the Charles Allis Art Museum and has shown at Towson University’s Studio Theatre, the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Milwaukee, Maryland Art Place, and the Mercury Theater. In Baltimore, she also organized two collaborations between artists and adults called “The Kidult Show,” as well as many performances that took place at the Whole Gallery, Copy Cat Theater, Baltimore’s Transmodern Festival, and Artscape.

Artist Statement

In my second year of college, I discovered I could create a play from start to finish, and I never stopped. Because I’ve been collaborating on theater pieces while steeped in artistic community for many years, I have a strong desire to foster a sense of community in the classroom by facilitating students in making an expressive piece of theater from scratch with their peers. Theater work in general lends itself to ensemble-building and interdependence. Creative teams are making so many of the programs being watched by youth; it’s exciting to find how this process can bounce thoughts from one mind to another, catalyzing and expanding new ideas. What stories will emerge? And then comes the excitement of acting it out!