Elizabeth Rouse, Secretary

With a constant drive to learn more and explore outside of her comfort zone, Elizabeth Rouse has been stepping on and off stage since she was little. While her love of theatre has remained constant, she has portrayed a revolving door of characters over the last decade; however, it wasn’t until Elizabeth began college that she found her true theatrical love—stage management. (What’s not to love about getting to be bossy without facing criticism?!). Originally from Iowa, Elizabeth snuck down south to complete the adult program at the Louisiana Center for the Blind in 2021 after both receiving a National federation of the Blind scholarship in 2018 and earning undergraduate degrees in English and Theatre in 2020. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Creative Writing online and would love to talk your ear off about the power of books if you’re interested in listening. During the months of April through October, you’ll be hard pressed to pull Elizabeth away from a radio broadcast of Chicago Cubs baseball, which she loves listening to, preferably while buried under lots of blankets and snuggled up with her cat, Wrigley. If it happens to be the off season, she can be found binge watching Grey’s Anatomy or competitively completing puzzles of all sorts and sizes, including crosswords and Sudoku.

Elizabeth is a firm believer in Victor Hugo’s notion that "Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances." As this is her first term on the Performing Arts Division Board as secretary, Elizabeth is excited to become more ingrained in the division while spending time getting to know its membership. One of her greatest joys is helping others to learn that blindness can be viewed as an opportunity instead of a barrier, and she has been fortunate enough to have many opportunities to share this view with others through her involvement in performing arts. She is thrilled to give back to this community throughout the duration of her time on the Board and encourages you to reach out with questions, comments, and/or new ideas for the division.