NEW ORLEANS: The NOLA Project Theatre Company has announced that ensemble member Brittany N. Williams will assume a new role as the company’s first co-artistic director, sharing duties with current artistic director A.J. Allegra. Williams will begin the role in January 2022.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the NOLA Project team as co-artistic director,” Williams said in a statement. “Working with this brilliant group of artists as an ensemble member has been wonderful, and I’m excited to help us grow and evolve as a company and as part of the greater New Orleans community.”

Williams is an actor, singer, and writer who was last seen onstage in the company’s last in-person production, Harry and the Thief. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Howard University and an M.A. in Classical Acting from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. During the pandemic, she wrote and performed one of the company’s four original PodPlays and performed in two others.

“I couldn’t be happier to announce the addition of Brittany N. Williams to our new shared leadership model at the NOLA Project,” Allegra said in a statement. “She is a passionate, smart, and creative theatre artist with an incredible depth of knowledge and experience. The pandemic-forced pause in our work allowed our ensemble to look inward at ways in which we could strengthen and improve our organization. And I am so pleased that in the tradition of NOLA Project, and the spirit of ensemble, we selected one of our own to co-lead the next era of the NOLA Project.”

Williams’ latest work will be on display Oct. 29-Nov. 14, when the NOLA Project and the New Orleans Museum of Art present her new play, Tell It To Me Sweet, in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden.

The NOLA Project is an ensemble theatre company striving to challenge, entertain, and engage diverse New Orleans audiences through high-quality and innovative performances of relevant great works, the development and production of new plays, and comprehensive theatre education opportunities.