Biography
Albert Williams, Associate Professor of Instruction, Theatre, teaches courses on text analysis, Chicago theatre, and other topics. An alumnus of Columbia College Chicago, he is a nationally recognized arts journalist and critic. He received the 1999-2000 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism (administered by the Cornell University Department of English) for his theatre reviews published in the Chicago Reader, for which he has written since 1985 and which he served as theatre editor from 1991 through 2008. He is also the winner of two Peter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago Headline Club for his theatre and film criticism. In addition to his longstanding affiliation with the Chicago Reader, he has also written for the New York Times Book Review, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Entertainment Weekly, Illinois Entertainer, American Theatre, Chicago Seed, Chicago GayLife (also managing editor 1981-85), and Windy City Times (also managing editor 1987). He is the co-editor of Nothing Personal: Chronicles of Chicago's LGBTQ Community, 1977-1997 (Firetrap Press). He is listed in Who's Who in America and was inducted in 2003 into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame for "important contributions to the cultural life of Chicago."Before becoming a journalist and teacher, he was active in Chicago and Off-Broadway theatre as a performer and writer, and is the librettist for several operas composed by the Columbia College Music Department's founding chair, William Russo, including Isabella's Fortune, The Golden Bird, and The Sacrifice. BA, Columbia College Chicago, 1973.
Instructional Areas
Theatre history, text analysis, musical theatre history, Chicago theatre history, theatre in Chicago, musical theatre
Creative Practice and Research Interests
Theatre history, text analysis, musical theatre history, Chicago theatre history, theatre in Chicago, musical theatre, LGBTQ history
Degrees
B.A., Music Columbia College Chicago 1973