Rina Yerushalmi (; born March 1, 1939) is an Israeli

theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

and

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

. Yerushalmi received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

in 2001 and the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

in Theatre in 2008, among other awards and recognition.

Biography

Yerushalmi was born March 1, 1939, in

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

, in northern Israel, and was raised in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. Her mother, Haya (Angilovich) Yerushalmi, and father, Saul Yerushalmi (originally Yerusalimski), immigrated to Israel from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in 1920 and 1917, respectively. Her mother was a nurse, and her father was an engineer. Yerushalmi began studying dance at age six. At age 20, after her mandatory service in the

Israeli Defense Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, Yerushalmi moved to London, where she studied Laban movement analysis with

Kurt Jooss Kurt Jooss (12 January 1901 – 22 May 1979)Kurt Jooss
Internationales Biographisches Arch ...

and

stage management Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including overseeing of the rehearsal proce ...

at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

. Back in Israel, Yerushalmi studied the

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American acting coach and actor. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed ...

method Method (, methodos, from μετά/meta "in pursuit or quest of" + ὁδός/hodos "a method, system; a way or manner" of doing, saying, etc.), literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In re ...

with

Nola Chilton Nola Chilton (; 12 February 1922 – 8 October 2021) was an American-born Israeli theater director and acting teacher. She was a pioneer of socially engaged theater in Israel. In 2013, Chilton was awarded the Israel Prize for theater. Biograph ...

and the Feldenkrais method with Moshe Feldenkrais. Yerushalmi moved to the United States in the late 1960s to pursue her MFA in theater directing at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Early career (1970-1988)

Yerushalmi's final project at Carnegie Mellon, under the mentorship of Professor Leon Katz, was an adaptation of Buchner's

Woyzeck ''Woyzeck'' () is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by Karl Emil F ...

. In 1970, after finishing her MFA, Yerushalmi moved to New York City and began working with

Ellen Stewart Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s, she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth A ...

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (sometimes abbreviated as La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theater founded in 1961 by African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer Ellen Stewart. Located in the East Village neighborho ...

in the East Village of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. She was a resident director at La MaMA from 1972 to 1978. Yerushalmi directed a number of productions at La MaMa throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including: ''Toy Show'' (1970); ''Ta, Ta, Tatata'' (1970); ''Shekhina: The Bride'' (1971); ''Some Such Things'' (1978); ''Glasshouse'' (1980); and ''Yossele Golem'' (1982). She also choreographed and performed in ''An Ecumenical Theatrical Liturgy on the Rights of the Child'' (1979) and performed in ''Shradanjali'' (1982) at La MaMa. During this time, she also founded a branch of La MaMa in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, which was active from 1972 to 1974.

Later career (1988-present)

In 1988, Yerushalmi directed a production of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' at the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre. Following this production, in 1989, Yerushalmi founded th
Itim Theater Ensemble
for which she continues to serve as

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

. The theater is dedicated to the performance of classical texts as contemporary theater. Two of Yerushalmi's major productions with the Itim Theater Ensemble have been the Bible Project Parts I and II (1995-2000) and ''Mythos'' (2001/2002). The Bible Project consisted of ''Va-Yomer, Va-Yelech'' (''And He Said, And He Walked'') and ''Va-Yishtahu, Va-Yera'' (''And They Bowed, And He Saw''). Yerushalmi currently teaches acting and directing at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

Selected works

As director

* 1970: ''

'' (MFA final project); ''Toy Show'' ( Leon Katz's adaptation of The Dybbuk); ''Ta, Ta, Tatata'' (Yerushalmi's adaptation of ''

The Trial ''The Trial'' () is a novel written by Franz Kafka in 1914 and 1915 and published posthumously on 26 April 1925. One of his best-known works, it tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, wi ...

'' and '' Malone Dies)'' * 1971: ''Shekhina: The Bride'' ( Leon Katz's adaptation of The Dybbuk) * 1978: '' Malone Dies; Some Such Things'' * 1980: ''Glasshouse'' (written by Fatima Dike) * 1982: ''Yossele Golem'' (written by Dan Horowitz) * 1986: ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

;

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist metatheatric play about the relationship among authors, their characters, and theatre practitioners, it p ...

'' * 1988: ''

'' * 1990: ''

The Chairs ''The Chairs'' () is a one-act play by Eugène Ionesco, described as an absurdist "tragic farce". It was first performed in Paris in 1952. Setting A high tower surrounded by water. Characters *Old Man, aged 95 *Old Woman, aged 94 *Orator, aged ...

''; ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

'' (opera) * 1991: ''Woyzeck 91'' * 1992: ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' * 1993: ''

La Juive ''La Juive'' (, ) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra National de Paris, Opéra de Paris, on 23 February 1835. Composition history ''La Juive'' ...

'' * 1994: ''

Hedda Gabler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage.Meyer, Michael Lever ...

'' * 1996: ''Va-Yomer'',''Va-Yelech'' (Bible Project, Part I) * 1998: ''Va-Yishtahu, Va-Yera'' (Bible Project, Part II) * 1999: '' Elektra'' * 2002: ''Mythos'' (adaptation)

As choreographer

* 1979: ''An Ecumenical Theatrical Liturgy on the Rights of the Child''

Awards and recognition

* Margalit Prize, Best Director and Best Production (1990) for ''Hamlet'' * Ha-Levi Award, Best Director (1992) for ''Woyzeck 91'' * Israeli Academy of the Theater, Best Theatrical Creation (1999) for the Bible Project * Milo Award (1999) for the Bible Project * Honorary doctorate,

(2001) * Michae
Landau Prize
for the Performing Arts (2005) *

, Theatre (2008)

References

External links

itim-theater

Rina Yerushalmi's page on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections

Rina Yerushalmi's page on Leon Levy BAM Digital Archive

Rina Yerushalmi , America-Israel Cultural Foundation

Rina Yerushalmi & Itim Theatre Ensemble - The Dybbuk - YouTube

Rina Yerushalmi , Jewish Women's Archive

The Cameri Theatre of Tel-Aviv - Ensemble Itim

Yerushalmi, Rina [Jewish Virtual Library
/nowiki>">ewish Virtual Library">Yerushalmi, Rina [Jewish Virtual Library
/nowiki> {{DEFAULTSORT:Yerushalmi, Rina Israeli choreographers Israeli women choreographers Israeli theatre directors Israeli women theatre directors 1939 births Living people