Theatre Director, Scholar, Playwright and
Community Engagement Specialist
Career and Scholarship
Salve Regina University
As Theatre Program Coordinator with a history of curriculum development and artistic direction, Tara has revamped theatre curricula at two higher ed institutions and advised redevelopment for other institutions to reflect a stronger foundational base of knowledge for students to graduate as artist community advocates and empathic beings.
REsearch and Scholarship
PhD from Tufts University (grad. May 2021) in Theatre and Performance Studies, regular contributor to HowlRound Theatre Commons, professional affiliations with Association for Theatre in Higher Education, American Association for Theatre Educators, and Quincy Arts Council, presentations at Northwestern University, Villanova University, Tufts University, Salve Regina University, and Eastern Nazarene College. Her research focuses on race and gender equity in theatre.
Theatre for Social Justice and Comm Arts at ENC
Theatre for Social Justice was designed and implemented at Eastern Nazarene College in 2017 by Tara Brooke Watkins as a way to blend the college's mission of social justice with theatre development. Students engage in a curriculum that focuses on applied theatre skills, production, and foundational theatre knowledge and dramas. They double major and create experimental productions their junior and senior years that address social justice issues through the lens of their second major. Students also work on a community engagement project which culminates in a devised theatre production for the main stage.