About

Samantha Rose Williams is an arts activist committed to sharing marginalized experiences with diverse audiences and creating space for critical discussion about art, culture, and social change. She balances an exciting professional career in performance and arts leadership and has a deep love for opera, musical theater, directing, marketing, development, and producing. 

After earning her B.A. at Stanford University, Samantha went on to receive her Master’s in Music and Specialist’s in Music at the University of Michigan in Voice Performance. As a crossover artist, Samantha has starred in numerous musicals and operas; her favorite credits include Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and Madame Haltière in Cendrillon. A Mezzo-Soprano with “jaw-dropping vocal power” (Stanford Arts Review) and a robust theater background that compels her to embody every role fully, Samantha is a young artist to watch.

In her senior year of college, Samantha “co-founded” BlackStage, a black theater group on campus, and produced a sensational production of the musical Ragtime to help foster discussion around issues President Trump’s election brought to the forefront. This experience propelled her out of her comfort zone and into self-produced works in an effort to meld her interests in performance and civic engagement. Her most recent artistic project is American Patriots, a staged song-cycle that seeks to examine patriotism from four vastly different perspectives: African-American, Native American, New American, and white Working-Class American. You can learn more about the upcoming workshops, dates, and performances here!

While at the University of Michigan, Samantha worked as the Media and Marketing Relations Manager at the University Musical Society, an Associate Director at the University of Michigan, and the Research Fellow at the EXCEL Lab. She created and served as the editor for “TypeCaste,” a blog series devoted to exploring DEI and marginalized representation in the performing arts. She was awarded the University of Michigan’s 2021 MLK Spirit Award and was a panelist in SphinxConnect 2021’s session on youth activism.

She hopes that through sharing nuanced stories of people of all backgrounds and beliefs, she can be a part of breaking down the walls of “us and other” and help to create a more sympathetic and equitable world.