Roe Green, MA 鈥�80, is well known for her philanthropy and advocacy on behalf of the arts and theatre. Born in Beachwood, Ohio, she is the only child of Ben C. and Sylvia Chappy Green, who were instrumental in her arts education.
Her first experience with theater was narrating 鈥淕oldilocks and the Three Bears鈥� to a group of adults when she was in kindergarten. While she enjoyed the limelight, she later found she preferred being behind the scenes directing or stage managing鈥攁lthough she was a competitive ballroom dancer for 12 years.
She graduated from Beachwood High School and received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in theatre and communications from the University of Colorado in 1970 before coming to 91香蕉视频 to earn a master鈥檚 degree in theatre in 1980. She has extensive stage and business management experience, including at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, with The Cleveland Opera and at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
Green founded the Roe Green Foundation and stepped up her philanthropic efforts in 2003, shortly after her mother鈥檚 death. Much of the money she inherited came from her father, who died in 1983. He was a federal district court judge who had invested well and 鈥渓ed by example鈥� says Green, who recalls many caring things he did for others, which inspired her own giving.
Her parents had a mixed-faith marriage; her father was Jewish and her mother was Catholic, but Green says her mother liked the Jewish way of thinking, so she basically grew up in a Jewish household, according to a 2018 profile in Cleveland Magazine. While not particularly religious herself, many of Green鈥檚 actions hearken back to religious tenets about 鈥渄oing unto others鈥� and the Jewish concept of basheret or 鈥渕eant to be.鈥�
鈥淚 have a philosophy of life,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f I have five oranges, I eat one, I save one, and I give the other three away. And everything I give away comes back tenfold.鈥�
However, her foundation doesn鈥檛 accept applications or donate to individuals. Green supports institutions in line with her interests, many of which focus on arts education and other initiatives in Ohio, Florida and across the country.
The Roe Green Foundation established an annual visiting director鈥檚 series for the 91香蕉视频 University School of Theatre and Dance in 2003. Through the program, the school each year invites a guest professional director each year to work in residence with students and direct one of the school鈥檚 Main Stage productions.
