About me
Theater Artist, Educator, and Scholar Marianne Pillsbury (she/they) started her theater journey as so many do–in a community theater production of Annie at age 10. She attended Brown University where she veered off the yellow brick road, joined a rock band, and wrote her senior honors English thesis on “Pop Icon Prince’s Dual Obsession with Sexual Ecstasy & Religious Salvation.†In 2004, after escaping a lucrative but unfulfilling career as an advertising copywriter, she released her debut pop-rock album, The Wrong Marianne. The album received positive reviews from The New York Times and Time Out New York and was named a Top 12 D.I.Y. Pick in Performing Songwriter Magazine. The song "Boo Hoo" won Best Alt/Rock Song in The Gr​eat American Song Contest.​In 2007, Marianne started teaching songwriting workshops at Willie Mae Rock Camp, a non-profit music and mentoring program. She also worked behind-the-scenes for several years at the Jazz Foundation of America, helping elder jazz and blues musicians in crisis. Her work with these non-profits inspired her to write an autobiographical pop-rock musical, Depression: The Musical (A Depressed Girl’s Guide to Depression), which debuted at the 2014 New York International Fringe Festival and received a 4-star review in Time Out New York. She followed this up with a staged reading of Strong Female Character: A Feminist Musical at the 2016 PortFringe Festival in Portland, Maine. ​Most recently, Marianne completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Applied Theater & Theatre Education at Emerson College where she wrote her M.F.A. thesis: “The Search For Signs Of Meaningful Inclusion Of Disabled Students In The Public High School Theater Universe.†She is currently teaching and directing teenagers and adults in her home state of Maine, specializing in creating original theater with disabled artists.
