Wilson named chair of the Acting Department at Yale School of Drama

Walton Wilson, currently associate chair of the Acting Department and a teacher of voice at Yale School of Drama, has been appointed chair of the department, effective July 1, 2014.

Wilson will succeed Ron Van Lieu, the Lloyd Richard Professor of Acting, who will continue to teach full time in the Acting Department.

“Ron Van Lieu’s leadership of the Acting Department has been exemplary: The individuality, creativity, resilience, and professional accomplishment of actors who have graduated from the School of Drama since his arrival — and of those actors who are among us now — are the vital signs of the department’s strength,” says James Bundy, dean of the School of Drama. “We all celebrate his willingness to continue his illustrious career, sharing his wisdom in our classrooms for years to come, at the same time that we thank him for his expert guidance of the acting program during a decade of remarkable achievement.”

Bundy continued, “Walton Wilson has been an influential and resourceful teacher and mentor, recruiter of faculty, and administrator of the Acting Department. He serves the school and Yale Rep with tireless discernment and generosity of spirit that wholly qualify him to assume leadership of a department with more than 20 faculty members and nearly 50 students.”

Wilson has been a teacher of voice since 1999 and associate chair of the Acting Department since 2004. He has served as voice and dialect coach at the Yale Repertory Theatre for Robert Woodruff’s four productions: “In A Year With 13 Moons,” “Autumn Sonata,” “Battle of Black and Dogs,” and “Notes from Underground”; three productions directed by Christopher Bayes: “Accidental Death of an Anarchist,” “A Doctor in Spite of Himself,” and “The Birds”; as well as for the plays “Boleros for the Disenchanted,” “The Unmentionables,” and “The Cherry Orchard,” among numerous others. As a voice/dialect coach, his New York credits include the Broadway production of “The Violet Hour” as well as the world premiere productions of “The Laramie Project” and “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later” (Tectonic Theatre Project) and “Endangered Species” (BAM Next Wave Festival). Regional credits include productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Repertory Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, and Williamstown Theatre Festival.