AUSTIN: The Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward’s University has named Anna Skidis Vargas to be its new resident artistic director. Skidis Vargas is a director, actor, playmaker, and educator who focuses on plays centering Latinx and mixed identities. Prior to being named resident artistic director, Skidis Vargas served as a resident director and assistant professor of theatre arts at St. Edward’s University and Mary Moody Northen Theatre.

Skidis Vargas’s directing credits include the season subscription series at the University of Texas, UT New Theatre, and the Cohen New Works Festival. Vargas holds an MFA in directing from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in performance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 

She has also directed at First Stage in Milwaukee; Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas; the Rose in Omaha; Children’s Theatre of Madison, Wisc.; and Cape Fear Regional Theatre in Fayetteville, N.C. 

Skidis Vargas was part of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color cohort and is the founding artistic director of Theatre Nuevo in St. Louis. Skidis Vargas received two Circle Awards for outstanding performances and was named St. Louis’s Best Female Vocalist by the Riverfront Times in 2014.

Robert Tolaro, the theatre’s current interim artistic director, will continue as associate artistic director during Skidis Vargas’s transition period. Mary Moody Northen Theatre (MMNT), founded in 1972, has been at the center of the St. Edward’s University professional theatre training program, providing opportunities for students to work side by side with practicing professional theatre artists and producing work designed to inspire artists and audiences alike.