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Sarah Wansley arrived in Delaware from Vermont just two weeks ago, but she is already looking ahead to the future of the University of Delaware’s professional theater company.
An assistant professor of theater, Wansley was recently named artistic director of the Resident Ensemble Players. Wansley said she wants to strengthen the company’s connection with undergraduate students, expand its contemporary programming and ensure its productions better reflect the community it serves.
Her arrival comes as UD’s Theatre and Dance Department expands its academic offerings and works to integrate professional theater more closely with undergraduate training.
“The theater and dance department has recently launched majors in both theater and dance, and so, our department is growing quite a bit,” Wansley said. “And we’re working on integrating the REP — our professional company — more deeply with the undergraduate training.”
Wansley previously served as associate artistic director at Northern Stage, a regional theater in White River Junction, Vermont. Her career has focused on directing new plays, developing contemporary works and reimagining classics. She has also worked in higher education and said the opportunity to combine teaching with professional theater leadership drew her to UD.
“Really, my whole career has been having one foot in the professional directing and artistic leadership path and one foot in teaching. I really find that teaching inspires my work on stage and vice versa,” she said. “This opportunity was especially exciting to me to be able to merge those two worlds of professional theater and a university community.”
Now in its 19th season, REP brings professional theater to UD while allowing students to learn from working artists. Wansley said she hopes to build on that foundation by expanding student participation, developing new work and increasing diversity.
“I’m really looking at programming some contemporary work, some younger work and it’s also a real priority for me to have diversity both on stage and off,” she said. “And I think that we have a lot of work to do to make sure that our stage reflect[s] the amazing diversity of the Newark community.”
