Mary Monroe Theatre Collection

Mary Monroe attended Florida Technological University (FTU), now University of Central Florida, from 1973 to 1976. During her time in the theatre program, she performed in many productions and even produced The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail.

Since her time at FTU, Monroe's career has been devoted to the development of new work in support of playwrights, screenwriters, and related performing artists, nationally and internationally. She has created several national programs and New York City (NYC)-based nonprofit companies, to benefit thousands of artists, across mediums, from college students to accomplished professionals.

A sampling of her work as a union stage director and independent nonprofit producer includes venues such as: Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Public (New York Shakespeare Festival), LaMama E.T.C., Provincetown Playhouse, Circle East (formerly Circle Rep Lab), H.E.R.E., New Dramatists, BACA/Downtown, Indiana Rep., North Light Rep. (now Northlight), etc.

Monroe worked with graduate playwriting and screenwriting students as a professional director adjunct with NYU Tisch School of the Arts' Dramatic Writing Program and as a Regional Playwriting Chair for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Monroe has been a Board President of several NYC and national nonprofit arts organizations devoted to supporting performing artists. She has received a number of honors, including the Kennedy Center Bronze Medal, she was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and she was a recipient of a Theatre Communications Group Observership. She is a full graduate of RADA.