It is hard to believe we have been without the theatrical genius of Liz Swados for 10 years now. While I never had the privilege of meeting Liz, I have always been a student and admirer of her work. Liz didn’t shy away from exploring truths that may be difficult to look at onstage or to listen to in song. When I heard about her passing in 2016, I tweeted, “Liz Swados was using hip-hop on Broadway in 1978, ahead of EVERYBODY. A colossus, singular, unequaled.” Ten years later, her influence is still felt keenly, and her legacy continues through the generation of artists she mentored while teaching at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and at the New School's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts.
Lin-Manuel Miranda pays tribute to Elizabeth Swados
Liz Swados would have celebrated her 75th birthday on Feb. 5. Ten years after her death, a fellow game-changer remembers her impact.
