Nina Vance

Nina Eloise Whittington Vance (1914–1980) was the founder and first artistic director of the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, United States. She received awards and recognition, both nationally and internationally, for her work and contribution to the theater community.

Biography Nina Vance, the only child of Calvin Perry and Minerva (DeWitt) Whittington, was born on October 22, 1914, in Yoakum, Texas. She was a direct descendant of Green DeWitt and Benjamin Beeson.

She attended Texas Christian University, receiving her B.A. in 1935, and pursuing post-graduate studies at Columbia University, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and postgraduate work in theater at the American Academy of Dramatic Art, Columbia University, and the University of Southern California before moving to Houston in 1939 to work as a high school teacher.

She was married to Milton Vance, an attorney, but the childless marriage ended in divorce. Nina Vance died on February 18, 1980, in Houston at the age of 65.

Early career Vance began her career by teaching drama and speech at Jefferson Davis High School and San Jacinto High School. She also taught private acting classes on the side and, by 1941, was acting herself with the Houston Little Theatre and the Houston Community Players, a group headed by Margo Jones.

In addition, Vance was one of only seven American directors to attend contemporary Soviet theatre in Moscow, while touring the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet Ministry of Culture and the U.S. Department of State. She received numerous other awards, including the Matrix Award of Theta Phi, the Outstanding Alumni Award of Texas Southern University and the Houston Y.W.C.A. Woman of the Year Award. After Vance died in 1980, the Alley was officially renamed "The Nina Vance Alley Theatre" in her honor.