Willow Jade Norton (she/her) is an Oregon-based theatre director, arts administrator and arts advocate focused on new work development and socially engaged art.
Willow’s work is driven to find the intersection of exquisite theatricality, narrative that meets the moment, and an invitation to build community. Willow is a Mom, and models her process and practices for her daughters to be proud of. She cares deeply about the preservation of the natural world and the Jewish cultural values she is from.
Willow has directed in Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Corvallis, and Eugene. Previously the Executive Director of The Alliance for Jewish Theatre, a network of international Jewish theatres and theatre artists supporting each other through information-sharing, conferences, and virtual programs internationally.
Also Co-Founder and Resident Director for Moderate Woo, a feminist theatre collective, Willow has made a commitment to focus on intersectional inclusion, antiracism, and disrupting systems of oppression on and off stage. Willow is also a Founding Board Member and previous Vice President of ArtCity Eugene, a nonprofit organization that believes socially engaged art has the power to create impactful transformation.
Recent awards are a 2024 Regional Arts and Culture Council Grant, 2019/20 Oregon Arts Commission Career Opportunity Grant Recipient, a 2019/20 Lane Arts Council Project Grant Recipient, & University of Oregon PPPM Arts & Cultural Leadership 2019/20 Effie Fairchild Award Recipient. Also 2019 Colleen Toohey Porter Fellowship from Theatre for Young Audiences.
As a Teaching Artist, Willow has worked at Oregon Contemporary Theatre, Lane Community College, Imagine That Eugene, The Village School, Stages for Corvallis High School, ACE Academy, Majestic Theatre Education, Philadelphia Young Playwrights and Washington Academy of Performing Arts. Willow is a Certified Teaching Artist for Tectonic Theater Project's Moment Work Technique.