Alex Ates is the Director of Pre-K-12 Visual and Performing Arts and David Mallery Fellow at Westtown School, a Quaker day and boarding school in West Chester, Pennslyvania.
Alex specializes in new play development and adapting Shakespeare. He has incubated 11 new works. Alex has been a guest artist at Emerson College, Agnes Scott College, Teachers' College at Columbia University, and Tulane University. He is the former Director of Education and Engagement for The NOLA Project.
Alex is also a freelance theater journalist. He has regularly contributed to Backstage magazine since 2017 and has his byline in American Theatre and Howlround.
His research on Black Mountain College, theater pedagogy, new play development, and verbatim performance with youth has been published in several peer-reviewed articles.
Schooled at NYU, The University of Alabama, and Emerson College. At Emerson, Alex was the recipient of the Performing Arts Chair Award and graduated magna cum laude. At UA, Alex received the young scholar award from the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC). At NYU, he was a Dean's Graduate Scholar and the graduate representative for Gallatin, the school's highest honor.
Alex splits his time between West Chester, PA, and his hometown, New Orleans.
Photo by Jeff Hanson at The University of Alabama.