Virago Ensemble to Present THROUGH OUR EYES: A COLLECTION OF MULTICULTURAL POINTS OF VIEW

A night of celebration of multicultural points of view presented through a contemporary collection of various works in theater, poetry, and music. The event will take place at Playwrights Downtown on 2/17/23 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are Pay-What-You-Wish at the door. The evening is produced by Virago ensemble, an inclusive multinational group of performers and theatre creators, striving to celebrate and honor diverse cultural backgrounds, by sharing diverse narratives and empowering less-heard points of view.

The performances include:

The Rules of the Game, a one woman show by Eliya Rodeh, directed by Angelita Esperanza;

Limboland, a trilingual, devised play written by Noy Marom, Samia Omari, and Suzi Takahashi, directed by Suzi Takahashi;

Nadav Wiesel, Original songs

About the artists:

Eliya Rodeh is a New York City based Israeli actress and singer. She has been singing and acting on and off the Israeli and international stage since the age of 8. Eliya studied Vocal Performance at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Her love for theatre brought her to New York City to pursue continued development, completing the Stella Adler Conservatory Program, class of 2017. Eliya is a founding member of Dirty Laundry Theatre, a theatre production company that seeks to share cross cultures human stories. Among Eliya's favorite credits: Light Heart Heavy (The Tank, Dirty Laundry Theatre), Yerma (Virago Ensemble), Who Are You? A Musical (MITF), Warm Family (Dirty Laundry Theatre), Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (Virago Ensemble), Kiss That Frog (Virago Ensemble), Hitch (Producers Club), Into The Woods (Israel Festival), Seussical (Israel tour), The Town As If (The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and Philadelphia tour). Eliya was a recipient of the AEA Singers Forum Scholarship as a non-equity between the years 2015-2018.

Angelita Esperanza is an Actor, Director and Producer who divides her time between Los Angeles and New York City. She has worked on major network shows including Tommy and Instinct on CBS, Quantico on ABC and Crossbones on NBC. She has worked alongside Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner Edie Falco, Academy Award nominee John Malkovich, Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award winner Claire Foy, Obie and Tony Award winner Alan Cumming, Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood, Golden Globe winner Christian Slater and Olivier and Tony Award winner Rufus Sewell. Recent acting credits include Criminal Minds on CBS, The Blacklist on NBC, and New Amsterdam on NBC.

Noy Marom is an Israeli actress and producer, active in Israel and NYC. She was born and raised in Israel and moved to New York in 2014 to pursue acting. Noy is a graduate of The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, class of 2017. Other training and workshops include: Grace Kiley Acting, The Barrow Group and The Nissan Nativ Acting Studio (Israel). Some of her favorite theater credits include: Dian in Escape from Happiness, Sara in God of Vengeance, Eva in Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, Girl A in the short play Kiss That Frog, and Charlotte in the short play It's Not Normal. Noy acted in many short films and recently co-produced and acted in the short film A New York Moment. Noy is a member of IAP-the Israeli Artists Project, a non- profit organization that promotes and presents Israeli theater, music and art.

Samia Omari is a bilingual French actor and performer currently between Paris and NYC, with multiple theater credits. Some of her favorite roles include Belle in Everyone's Carol, an adaptation of the Dickens classic, Miranda in The Tempest (7 Stages Shakespeare Company). Samia also performed in several Musical Theater pieces in Paris (Premieres of #Hashtags! and Le?gendes Parisiennes; New the Improvised Musical) as well as in in Gospel choirs. She was recently seen interpreted Gabrielle in the premiere of #SoSadSoSexy, a devised play at The Tank, and often performs in Shakespeare BardCore versions with Match:Lit and other companies. In 2022, she also lead artistic tours of the Garment district with Theaterlab. She is a graduate of the Stella Adler Acting Studio Conservatory, trained at Peridance Center in NYC and in devised movement, Suzuki/Viewpoints with R.Evolucio?n Latina and Siti Company.

Suzi Takahashi is a renowned theater creator, performer, director, actor and educator. She holds a BA in Theatre from Barnard College, an MA in Performance Studies from NYU-Tisch, and an MFA in Directing from Stony Brook Southampton. Suzi trained with the Siti Company. She is part of the faculty at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting where she teaches Movement and directs. Recently, she was named Director of the Stella Adler Studio's AAPI Artist's Initiative. Suzi also teaches Asian Theater at NYU-Tisch. Suzi was a three-year member of the Williamstown Theater Festival's "Non-Eq" company, and has toured nationally and internationally. She is a member of AFTRA. As a theater maker, Suzi was a two-time HARP Artist-in- Residence at HERE with the international women's performance ensemble she co-founded, Ex.Pgirl (2002-10.) She also was an Emerging Artist Directing Fellow at the New York Theater Workshop and has won numerous grants for her original works, which mostly explore Asian American women's identity. She was the recipient of the 2009 Innovative Theater Award for Best Director.

Nadav Wiesel is a NY-based theater artist, working as composer-lyricist for musical theater, as well as an actor-singer. As Composer-Lyricist, his works have been staged in Israel, New York and across Europe. "The Femme Fatale Show", featuring the notorious women of myth and history, was premiered in London in 2010 as part of the London Fringe Festival. "The House by the Lake", a dark fable about childhood in the holocaust incorporating cabaret, puppetry and object theater, was premiered in Acco Festival for alternative theater and is currently enjoying a successful tour in Europe (Including the renowned Schaubude Festival in Berlin, and Charleville Mezier in France). Nadav's songs are often performed in cabaret venues in New York and London. Nadav was recently invited to perform his music at The Hormel Festival of New Plays and Musicals at The Phoenix Theater in Arizona. Nadav is currently developing several projects for the stage and for children's media. Nadav is an advanced member of the BMI Musical Theater Workshop in New York and a graduate of Tel Aviv University's Theater Arts department.