Elise Thoron
ELISE THORON Playwright: Green Violin, based on murals Marc Chagall painted for the first Soviet Yiddish Theater, music by Frank London of the Klezmatics, premiered Prince Music Theater, (2003); Teatr na Mokhvaya, St. Petersburg (2005); Jewish Music Festival, Amsterdam (2006), publication in an anthology Nine Contemporary Jewish plays. Prozak and the Platypus music by Jill Sobule, SPF (Beckett Theatre, New York, 2004; Hartford stage 2006). Charlotte: Life? or Theater? music by Gary Fagin, premiered at The Prince Music Theater (2001); also performed at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington; Hermitage Theater, St. Petersburg, Soho Theater, London, and Joods Historiche Museum in Amsterdam. Adaptor/director: Good Morning Moscow by M. Kostalyevskaya; Correspondence, based on the letters of Tchaikovsky and his patroness, the Baroness Von Meck, both commissioned by the Bard Summer Music Festival. The Great Gatsby, adapted and directed in Russian, continued in repertory for over seven years at the Pushkin Theater in Moscow. Since 1986, Elise has worked on cross-cultural collaborations with Russian and American theater artists through the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and was one of the co-founders of A.S.T.I. (American Soviet Theater Initiative) in 1987. In addition to designing and facilitating numerous theater exchanges, she directed a company of American and Russian actors in a bilingual production of Oleg Antonov's Egorushka (O'Neill Theater Center, Soho Rep). For the St. Petersburg Music Theater Festival, she has directed Wild Party by Andrew Lippa (Jazz Philharmonia); worked with V. Oustinovsky and his company on his Tsigany (Gypsies), and been part of the organizing committee for many years. As Artistic Associate at the American Place Theater in New York, Elise was in charge of new play development, where she directed several world premieres and also launched two highly successful educational programs, Literature to Life (now nation-wide). She has translated the work of the Russian playwrights: Liudmila Petrushevskaya and Alexander Galin, for production and publication in the United States and Canada. Bio as of July, 2007. American Theatre Wing programs, interviews and/or credits include: Working in the Theatre (video) World Theatre - January, 2002 - Watch now.