Southern Fall/Winter 2022

A HILLTOP TRIBUTE
REMEMBERING DIANE MCNARON
Diane McNaron was a force of nature. I first met her in early 2003. At the
time I was organizing a local event for The Lysistrata Project, a world-wide
project of planned staged readings of Lysistrata on 03/03/03 to protest
the war in Iraq. She called me to volunteer to play the statue at the end of
the show – a singing role. Until then I was unfamiliar with her but gladly
accepted her offer, this being a community-based project. Since it was a
comedy, I figured it wouldn’t matter how good the song was!
A little research revealed how lucky I was to have such a professional artist
volunteer her talents for the show. I soon became very familiar with her
musical talent and passion for social justice and community-building. Thus
began almost 20 years of performing and protest, collaboration and conflict,
together as we, along with fellow founder Andrew Duxbury, began the
journey that became Politically Incorrect Cabaret.
Aside from her vast talents as a performer and teacher, a tireless and
fearless supporter of social justice, a devoted follower of true cabaret, Diane
was, I think, most gifted at bringing people together for the cause of the
common good. She was intentionally inclusive always, and respectful of
talent, if not always of time. She never met an envelope whose edge she
wouldn’t push. Outrage was her comfort zone.
A loyal supporter of longtime collaborators, Diane was also always
embracing new talent and expanding her circle of influence. Offbeat only
in her friendships, never her musical performance, she taught us all a deep
respect for the true purpose of cabaret as political commentary as well as
performance – the more outrageous the better. Diane was not satisfied with
only entertaining her audiences – she was committed to educating them.
From that first meeting for the Lysistrata project, Diane brought me and
Andrew into her circle of artists, protesters, and good folk. I became familiar
with potluck dinners for Birmingham Peace Project, Doctors Without
Borders, the Birmingham Improv Festival, and the amazing community of
avant-garde artists that she supported and built.
She was difficult and daring, relentless, opinionated, and she certainly
persevered. She showed me that a show could happen anywhere – from a
pier in Biloxi, to a corner of a coffee shop, an abandoned factory, a roadside
stand, and even a stage every now and then. There never was anyone like her,
and I daresay I shall never meet another. I am so very grateful to have been
part of her circle and will miss her.
Birmingham-Southern should take particular pride in having been part of
the incredible, exemplary, and accomplished life of Diane McNaron and, as
a fellow alum, I feel honored to have been a small part of it. She truly lived
the life of informed inquiry and meaningful service that BSC aspires to in
its mission statement. I hear her in the current motto – Forward, Ever – and
hope to find a way to follow without the bright light of her shining example.
Ellise Pruitt Mayor MPPM ’11 is
a Birmingham actor and director
and a teaching artist in the UAB
Arts in Medicine program. She
began teaching creative dramatics at
the Birmingham-Southern College
Conservatory in 1997.
Photo by Kim Riegel
DIANE ROEBUCK MCNARON ’70
Diane Roebuck McNaron of Birmingham passed
away on Feb. 20, 2022. McNaron studied voice at
BSC and earned master’s degrees in stage direction
from FSU and IU.
A prominent singer in the operatic tradition, she
studied under famous teachers, held academic posts, and
performed as a soprano across the U.S. and abroad.
In 1988, McNaron retired from academic life and
returned to Birmingham, where she embarked on a career
as a voice coach, performer, and director of jazz, art song,
and cabaret material. She formed Masters’ Cabaret in
1998 and launched her critically acclaimed Politically
Incorrect Cabaret, a staple of the Birmingham arts scene,
in 2004. She also recorded two CDs: “Music in Flight”
(2000) and “Rosas de Pulpa, Rosas de Cal” (2011).
McNaron was known for combining her musical
endeavors with human rights activism and was an
accomplished painter – her portrait of tenor Michael
Ballam as Rodolpho in “La Boheme” still hangs in the Utah
Festival Opera’s Museum.