Cultural Placemaking Through the Arts - Anna Russell

Annotation Anna Russell is a theater artist originally from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. After studying theater and graduating from Swarthmore College in 2014, she came to the Lehigh Valley to work as an apprentice at Touchstone Theater. In 2015, Russell became the artistic director of Allentown Public Theater Company. She also works at Mock Turtle Marionette Theater. In this interview, Russell talks about her decision to study and work in the arts, about what drew her to artistic work in the Lehigh Valley, and about the challenges she faces as a young artist trying to make a living in the Lehigh Valley. She describes the work of Allentown Public Theater Company, which prioritizes performances about social issues such as race and gender. Russell also discusses the challenges of running such a company, including funding, space, and administrative work. Russell speaks in this interview about the importance of supporting local artists in places like Bethlehem, and about the role that the arts can play in yielding changes to society that can bring about a more just world. This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted by Lehigh University in collaboration with area artists Doug Roysdon (Mock Turtle Marionette Theater), Anna Russell, and Avi Setton. These interviews were supported in part by the Lehigh University Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative. An oral history interview is an act of memory and hence both highly selective and highly subjective. While it accurately reflects what a narrator remembers (or chooses to tell) of his or her experience and viewpoints, it may not accurately represent what actually transpired or what another person may have experienced. As such users should subject interviews to the same degree of critical scrutiny they would any other historical source.