Professor of Professional Practice and Dramaturgy Department Head Christian Parker ’98 has been named a 2023-24 Michael I. Sovern/Columbia University Affiliated Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.
An alumnus of the Dramaturgy concentration, Parker has an extensive resume of dramaturgical and directorial work. He was formerly the Associate Artistic Director at Atlantic Theater Company, and has taught at Columbia University for 15 years. He was Chair of the Theatre Program from 2012 to 2019.
Named after legal scholar and 17th president of Columbia University, Michael I. Sovern, the Michael I. Sovern/Columbia University Affiliated Fellows program is a result of the American Academy in Rome’s Affiliated Fellowships, which are annual fellowships awarded by educational and cultural organizations around the world. Fellows spend a period of four weeks to three months at the American Academy in Rome, where they engage with the Academy's members and its artistic and academic community.
“I’m honored to have been selected as one of Columbia’s Sovern Affiliated Fellows at the American Academy in Rome for this coming spring,” Parker said. “The fellowship is going to afford me valuable time to learn more about the role of theatrical comedy in ancient Roman society as I develop my own work on reimagining how American theatres can stake out a stronger place in their communities and better marry entertainment and civic dialogue. I can’t wait to explore what Rome and the Academy have to offer, and to join such a diverse and accomplished group of international scholars and artists. It’s a thrilling way to spend some of my time on creative leave this spring, and I hope it will be a wonderful way to refresh my relationship to making theatre, and fuel my thinking and writing about the evolving role of theatre in our country.”
Parker will be in residence at the American Academy in Rome in the winter/spring of 2024.
