How Emmy Winner Angela Farr Schiller Meets the World and Finds Herself in Theater

Schiller returned to the Tanglewood Learning Institute for a second year in a row in 2024 to give a talk about how race, gender, and history intersect with the arts.

An Emmy Award-winning director and distinguished dramaturg, Schiller was the first Black female associate professor of theater at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee School of Music, and the first Black director of arts education at the ArtsBridge Foundation. Her work bridges the gap between the academic and the artistic, with a career marked by her roles as a director and dramaturg on productions such as "The Color Purple," "Hairspray," and "Cabaret."

In anticipation of her 2024 talk about the trailblazing cabaret singer and activist Josephine Baker, we delved into her journey from passionate theater kid to acclaimed theater professional, exploring her philosophy how art meets the world, using art to better understand people and herself, and the how to find joy in the loneliness that can accompany trailblazing.

How did theater come into your life, and how did you end up specifically in dramaturgy?

I was a theater kid, so theater has always been in my life. My parents would take me to summer camps, and I was always that kid who was taking drama classes in elementary school and junior high school. I was in all of the school plays, working as a stage manager, working as a director, working as a performer, just getting a chance to try a lot of different things. And then when it was time to go to college, it was like, "well, what do you want to do?" And I thought, "I don't know. I like theater, let's roll those dice and see what happens!"

What every parent wants to hear. My kid loves theater! 

Oh boy, exactly. But I will say this, my parents were always really supportive of what we wanted to do. As a kid, I took piano lessons, and did dance classes. I feel really lucky to have had parents who never questioned my love of the arts. When I would get a bad grade in school my punishment would be, "you cannot go to rehearsal," or "you cannot be in this play." Because that was my love! Going through school, most of my degrees are in theater, and I didn’t know what kind of job that was going to turn into, but this was what I loved, and I was going to go forward with it! 

I think I couldn't have had a better motto growing up and going out into the world: My parents always told me, "don't be afraid."  Don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions, and don't be afraid to try a lot of different things. I think that's also how I got into dramaturgy. I got my Ph.D. at Stanford, and it's a degree that's really an artist/scholar kind of degree. You get a chance to be in the library A LOT, but you also get a chance to minor in directing and dramaturgy. 

A dramaturg is that person on the creative team who is asking, "why this show now?" "How does this relate to what's happening in the world?" "How is this relevant for the communities we're serving?" "How does the play become a bridge to our society?"

So I think dramaturgy just really fit my personality, because dramaturgy is also a type of job that you can have very specifically in the theater, as a production dramaturg, but you can also do what I'm doing now which is giving this talk at Tanglewood as a public scholar. I can write books, like "The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays vol. 1-3," or work with playwrights to produce new work. I get the privilege to teach at places like the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and work with the next generation of amazing artists. Dramaturgy is a very dynamic and exciting craft. I absolutely love it! The heart of dramaturgy is a curiosity for the ways that the work of the art meets the world and how they form a bridge towards each other.

You have such an impressive and intimidating array of trophies and awards. On your website, it says that you have a very specific point of view that you're bringing to your work—a very specific goal. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

For me it’s really thinking about the ways that the arts help us understand what it means to be human. I feel like in the same way that a historian or a biologist is thinking about, "what does it mean to be alive?," I feel like I'm in my little part of the world of the arts, and we are using the arts to think in a critical and creative way about all the different experiences that make us human, that make life delightful and scary and challenging and wondrous at the same time. 

We’ve had the arts since the beginning of time. It's a wonderful way to understand our humanity. Often, we think about theater or the arts as a mirror held up to society, to help us think about our very mundane experiences anew but it can also be a hammer used to shape society as well. 

I don't want to ask you to pick a favorite, but is there a production that you are particularly proud of, or you feel like particularly telegraphed this message that you've talked about? 

It is hard to pick one, because they're all really special and I worked with wonderful people. But I would say, two years ago, I worked on the West Coast premiere of "Confederates" by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Nataki Garrett at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I went to Ashland, Oregon for the summer, camped out with some of the most brilliant artistic minds you can imagine, and we put together this beautiful new work. I feel like so much of this work is really thinking about Black women in spaces of leadership.

Garrett, who was directing, was also the artistic director for OSF at the time. While I was there, she held this big conference where she brought together various women of color in leadership positions from across the country, because often you feel like you’re siloed on your mountaintops; you’re the first or the only one in this field, or in this department, or whatever. And both this leadership gathering and the play are asking very similar questions: What does it mean to be a Black woman in spaces of leadership? What are some of the spaces of joy that come out of that? What are some of the spaces of challenge when people aren’t used to people looking like you in charge? What is it when you're the only one there? This particular play really thinks about those questions and those experiences.

As a "first," you often don't have those people who are ahead of you. You definitely have the people on whose shoulders you stand, without a doubt, but in doing the work that you are now in the leadership position to do, it can sometimes be a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of experience; as most firsts are.

So doing "Confederates" really brought a lot of those questions to the fore, and as we're thinking about this presidential election season, it's really thinking about the ways that theater is truly a mirror to our society and the questions that we are asking ourselves as a culture.

Speaking of Black woman leadership, how did all of this lead you down the path to this talk that you're giving about Josephine Baker?

Oh my gosh. I feel like I could probably give a yearlong class on Josephine Baker. She's just such a remarkable and fascinating human being. One of the things that I love about her is that she's a woman who is not afraid to take a risk on her own self, especially coming from abject poverty and oppression. We’re talking about St. Louis at the turn of the century. But because she's willing to take a risk on herself from a very, very, very young age, she was able to go so many places that people, and especially as Black woman at the turn of the 20th century, could not even imagine going.

I just find her to be such a dynamic and fascinating human being. I love the ways that the arts, and particularly dance and cabaret, were the ways that she was able to self-actualize, to really become the person that she was meant to be through performance via an exploration of self on the stage. 

I can really relate to that. As an artist myself, I feel like with every project I'm learning about who I am a little bit more. It's not just for the audience to see themselves reflected. It's also for me to do the same with the team of artists that I'm working with. Throughout the entire process, we're asking the questions, "why are we doing this?" "How does this make sense with the time period that we are living in?" So on and so forth. So, I find that kindred spirit with her in the ways that she is using the arts to fully become who she's supposed to be in this world.

This is the second year that you'll be at Tanglewood. Last year you talked about Ragtime. You're doing Josephine Baker this year. What’s next year? 

I love the idea of tying the event to the theme of what's happening each year, because I feel like it allows the conversation to be in community and about what people are experiencing. 

The Tanglewood audience is so smart, so curious, really fun, and always easygoing. They’re there to enjoy themselves! I love that they're an audience that's curious about the ways that the works of art and the world come together, and they’re coming at it from so many different kinds of spaces.

Last year, I had a lot of very meaningful conversations with individuals after my talk. I probably spent as much time talking after the talk as I did during the talk! They all wanted to discuss their own curiosities about Ragtime. And then it was also wonderful to see them at the evening concert and say hi again.

I just love that Tanglewood becomes a kind of low-key community for the summer, bringing together people from all over, enjoying the season together and bringing their curiosity to their summer.

In your copious spare time when you're not winning Emmys and such, what do you fill your evenings and your weekends with? 

One thing I love doing—I’m based in Atlanta, and it really is a city in a forest, so it's a very, very tropical place to live. I love going for adventures on walks with my dog. This summer, we found all these different walks that have waterfalls with them … I mostly use the summer to explore my city. 

My husband and I really love going to concerts. I love, love, love—even though I'm in the theater—I love going to hear live music! Recently, we went to hear [jazz musician] Robert Glasper, and that was super fun. We also went to the Atlanta Jazz Festival—which we do every year. 

And then, of course, I love going to brunch and visiting the many Atlanta breweries with friends and family. Atlanta is a very social and lively city and that is partly why I love living here. 

During this last year, I took up knitting, just to calm my spirit. It’s a great way to make things for my friends and family. But even if I wasn't giving them away, it's just a great meditative practice.

I'm even thinking about taking guitar lessons. I've always wanted to play guitar. I took piano as a kid, and I kind of flamed out on that. But that’s on my radar right now because I love learning new things! 

 You'll get your EGOT one way or another! You've already got your Emmy, so gotta work on the Grammy!

Lightning round! 

When you're in Boston do you have a favorite place to grab food?

You know what I love? Quattro. I love a good Neapolitan pizza. 

Well that’s fantastic because the next question is what’s your favorite pizza topping?

Classic Margarita. Good, wonderful, fresh mozzarella, definitely an amazing red sauce, and extra basil. Extra, extra basil.

How about when you're out in the Berkshires? Do you have your favorite place there yet?

You know what, not yet. I'm still exploring, and there are so many great places out there. My mom's actually coming up with me this year, and so we're ready. We're coming hungry. 

What is your coffee or your tea order? 

I could go with a London fog, extra foggy, with a shot lavender and vanilla, or a chai latte, extra, extra, spicy.

Maya Shwayder is the BSO’s senior contributing editor and copywriter.