NYU appoints York alumna head of drama

York theatre alumna Elizabeth Bradley has been named Chair of the drama department at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

The appointment tops an illustrious 30-year career as a producer, presenter, arts executive, advocate, and international cultural consultant in the performing arts.

Right: Elizabeth Bradley

Head of drama at Carnegie Mellon University since 2001, Bradley started her career as a theatrical agency assistant and producing apprentice in New York after earning a BFA from York in 1976. Her theatrical producing credits include Tony-nominated Broadway productions, Edinburgh Festival premieres and extensive US tours to major houses such as the Kennedy Center and City Center in New York. She has worked directly for artists as manager and agent. In Canada, she worked as a programming consultant for the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, general manager and CEO of the Hummingbird Centre and director of communications and special projects at the Stratford Festival. Recently reappointed to a second five year term at Carnegie Mellon, Bradley was founding artistic director of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts in 2004. She is past Chair of the International Society for the Performing Arts Foundation in the United States.

Bradley moves into her new position at Tisch next June.

She is married to retired Professor Keith Bradley (BA ’73), who taught theatre production at York from 1973 to 1997.