MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
MAEGAN MCNERNEY AZAR Associate Professor of Acting and Directing Chair of Theatre Arts Furman University
Maegan McNerney Azar has seen her career blossom through her involvement in SETC, starting with her first convention as a student in 2001. As she attended workshops and networked with others, she had a revelation that helped define her future: “Acting could be a career option without having to move to New York or LA.”
Growing within SETC
What are the roles you have had in SETC and how did one lead to another? I say this as often as I can: SETC really has been there at every step of my professional career. I got my first professional acting job at SETC, I found my graduate program at SETC, I got my first full-time theatre job at SETC, I found out I had been hired as a professor at SETC, I learned about what arts advocacy is at SETC, I served on my state’s Board of Directors because of SETC, and now I serve on the Executive Committee of SETC. It takes a lot of work, but as I put in the effort to make connections, SETC facilitated those opportunities. It’s actually pretty amazing because the interconnectedness of our industry is something that theatre artists talk about constantly, but you can really see that play out through an organization like ours.
‘I say this as often as I can: SETC really has been there at every step of my professional career.’
Highlights of SETC Roles: 2001: Joined SETC 2002-06: Auditionee, Professional Auditions 2003: Auditionee, Graduate School Auditions 2010: Hiring company rep, California Theatre Center 2010: First time as a workshop presenter, SETC Convention 2014-16: Vice Chair, SETC College & University Division 2015-19: Member, Long-Range/Strategic Planning Committee 2016: Member, Succession Planning Task Force 2016-18: SETC Secretary 2018-20: SETC Vice President of Administration 2019-20: Chair, Strategic Planning Committee
How has your involvement in SETC led to new professional opportunities? A perfect example is about six years ago, at an SETC College/University Division meeting, I met Matthew Hallock, who works at Centre College. He introduced me to a friend, Padraic Lillis, the artistic director of The Farm Theater in Brooklyn. They told me about a project they were starting called The College Collaboration Project to help emerging playwrights develop new plays. It piqued my curiosity, and I told them that I would love to get my students involved. Last season, we had that chance. My students at Furman University got to develop a new play with Kimberly Belflower and students from Centre College and Rollins College called John Proctor is the Villain. It has since hit The Kilroys List and was developed further at Ojai Playwrights Conference this summer. Stuff like this happens all the time at SETC! More info: www.setc.org/growing www.setc.org
September / October 2019
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