Anna
Ables, a native of Midwest City, Oklahoma, and a Choctaw High School graduate, searched
the nation for the best graduate program in arts administration and found it at
Southern Utah University. She is now the director of marketing and public relations
at the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
Because arts administration was a relatively new field and at the time not many universities were offering such a program, she found SUU’s graduate program very appealing, largely due to its association with the Utah Shakespeare Festival and The American Folk Ballet.
Under the direction of SUU’s then-dean of performing and visual arts, Bill Byrnes, Anna immersed herself in the MFA arts administration program that puts theory to practice in a very real way, one that allowed her to create an actual marketing strategy plan for a dance company in Salt Lake City. She says that opportunity gave her the confidence to enter the job market fully confident with real-world experience under her belt.
Some of Anna’s fondest memories of SUU were the landscapes of southern Utah, particularly the canyons around Cedar City where she would often run and hike.
“It was a secluded space to study and learn, which allowed me to focus on my studies,” she says.
After earning her MFA from SUU in 2006, Anna moved to Chicago and began her first job as a marketing intern with the world-renowned Chicago International Film Festival, which was a quick introduction to the fast pace of marketing and promotion in a vibrant and artistic city. Her duties at the Theatre School now include overseeing and directing all marketing in print, social media, and online, as well as handling all press requests for the entire theatre department and three theatre performance spaces.
Because arts administration was a relatively new field and at the time not many universities were offering such a program, she found SUU’s graduate program very appealing, largely due to its association with the Utah Shakespeare Festival and The American Folk Ballet.
Under the direction of SUU’s then-dean of performing and visual arts, Bill Byrnes, Anna immersed herself in the MFA arts administration program that puts theory to practice in a very real way, one that allowed her to create an actual marketing strategy plan for a dance company in Salt Lake City. She says that opportunity gave her the confidence to enter the job market fully confident with real-world experience under her belt.
Some of Anna’s fondest memories of SUU were the landscapes of southern Utah, particularly the canyons around Cedar City where she would often run and hike.
“It was a secluded space to study and learn, which allowed me to focus on my studies,” she says.
After earning her MFA from SUU in 2006, Anna moved to Chicago and began her first job as a marketing intern with the world-renowned Chicago International Film Festival, which was a quick introduction to the fast pace of marketing and promotion in a vibrant and artistic city. Her duties at the Theatre School now include overseeing and directing all marketing in print, social media, and online, as well as handling all press requests for the entire theatre department and three theatre performance spaces.
She previously held the position of director
of public relations and outreach for the Oklahoma Arts Institute (OAI), a
non-profit organization that provides pre-professional training for talented
young artists and performers, as well as arts education training for public
school teachers and university and college faculty.
Anna says that her greatest accomplishment professionally has been the 2013 opening of the new Theatre School building, which was designed by the internationally renowned architect César Pelli, and his firm Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. The school houses two theatre spaces—a 250-seat theatre and a 100-seat flexible theatre—along with costume, makeup, prop and scene shops, rehearsal studios, lighting laboratories, movement studios, and more.
She has a background in dance performance and instruction and was a member of the American Spirit Dance Company at Oklahoma City University, where she earned a BA in 2001. She has since channeled that passion for dance by completing her yoga certification training and teaches regular yoga classes for students at DePaul, as well as at Bloom Yoga Studio in Chicago.
Riding her bike to work along the lakefront in the summer, and high power spinning classes at the gym are two great enjoyments in her life, and in her spare time, Anna also loves rebuilding and refurbishing, and is currently at work restoring a wooden desk for her new home office.
Anna says that her greatest accomplishment professionally has been the 2013 opening of the new Theatre School building, which was designed by the internationally renowned architect César Pelli, and his firm Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. The school houses two theatre spaces—a 250-seat theatre and a 100-seat flexible theatre—along with costume, makeup, prop and scene shops, rehearsal studios, lighting laboratories, movement studios, and more.
She has a background in dance performance and instruction and was a member of the American Spirit Dance Company at Oklahoma City University, where she earned a BA in 2001. She has since channeled that passion for dance by completing her yoga certification training and teaches regular yoga classes for students at DePaul, as well as at Bloom Yoga Studio in Chicago.
Riding her bike to work along the lakefront in the summer, and high power spinning classes at the gym are two great enjoyments in her life, and in her spare time, Anna also loves rebuilding and refurbishing, and is currently at work restoring a wooden desk for her new home office.
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