Hartford Stage's Maxwell Williams To Run New Orleans Theater 

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Hartford Stage’s associate artistic director will now be running a theater of his own.

Williams, a member of the Hartford Stage artistic team for more than a decade, is the new artistic director of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré located in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Williams, who has served in the position of associate artistic director for the past three seasons, will join Le Petit Theatre in March. He will oversee the transitioning the 370-seat theater, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2016, from a community to professional theater.

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“Hartford Stage has been my home from the moment I entered the profession,” says Williams, 36. And a Hartt School grad with honors in the inaugural class of the theater division. “This place has had such a profound impact on me that I literally can’t imagine how my life would have evolved without it. I am blessed and so truly grateful for my friends here, and for the huge support both personal and professional.”

Longtime director of the annual production of A Christmas Carol—A Ghost Story of Christmas, Williams’ other Hartford Stage credits include “Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike,” “Boeing Boeing,” “The 39 Steps” and “Dying City.”

Prior to his New Orleans move, Williams will be directing the world premiere of Matthew Lopez’ “Reverberation,” starring Luke Macfarlane, which runs at Hartford Stage Feb. 19 to March 14.

Williams joins Katie Hallman just hired as managing director of the New Orleans theater.

Williams has also directed world premieres and revivals at theaters across the country, including Hartford’s TheaterWorks, off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theatres and Primary Stages, Cleveland Play House, Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, Monomoy Theater on Cape Cod, Pasadena Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse,in New Jersey and the Alley Theatre in Houston.

In New York, he served as associate director for the Broadway production of Horton Foote’s “Dividing the Estate,” as well as Foote’s nine-play epic “The Orphans’ Home Cycle” which was produced by Hartford Stage and off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre. He has also assistant directed on shows at the Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company and the American Repertory Theatre.

A member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and Directors Lab West, Williams has been adjunct faculty or visiting artist at NYU, Trinity College, Mt. Holyoke College, and the Hartt School.