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 or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

. 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; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

in 2001 and the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

in Theatre in 2008, among other awards and recognition.

Biography

Yerushalmi was born March 1, 1939 in

Afula Afula ( he, עפולה Arabic: العفولة) 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 ...

, in northern Israel, and was raised in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the 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 metropol ...

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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

, 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 Archi ...

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 the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

. Back in Israel, Yerushalmi studied the

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

method Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to: *Scien ...

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. Biography N ...

and the

Feldenkrais method The Feldenkrais Method is a type of exercise therapy devised by Israeli Moshé Feldenkrais (1904–1984) during the mid-20th century. Participants are led through varied patterns of body movement, either hands-on or verbally guided, with the aim ...

with

Moshe Feldenkrais Moses ( el, Μωϋσῆς),from Latin and Greek Moishe ( yi, משה),from Yiddish Moshe ( he, מֹשֶׁה),from Modern Hebrew or Movses (Armenian: Մովսես) from Armenian is a male given name, after the biblical figure Moses. According to ...

. 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. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Early career (1970-1988)

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

Buchner Buchner is a German surname. Notable people with this surname include the following: * Andreas Buchner (1776–1854), German historian * Annemarie Buchner (1924-2014), German Olympian * August Buchner (1591–1661), German influential Baroque po ...

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 Fr ...

. 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 producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodm ...

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

in the East Village of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. She was a resident director at La MaMA from 1972–1978. 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 ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, which was active from 1972–1974.

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 tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' at the

Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre (also Acco Fringe Theatre Festival, Israel Fringe Theatre Festival) is a four-day performing arts festival held annually in the city of Acre, Israel during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot h ...

. 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 or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

. 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) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

Selected works

As director

* 1970: ''

'' (MFA final project); ''Toy Show'' ( Leon Katz's adaptation of

The Dybbuk ''The Dybbuk'', or ''Between Two Worlds'' (russian: Меж двух миров �ибук}, trans. ''Mezh dvukh mirov ibuk'; yi, צווישן צוויי וועלטן - דער דִבּוּק, ''Tsvishn Tsvey Veltn – der Dibuk'') is a play by ...

); ''Ta, Ta, Tatata'' (Yerushalmi's adaptation of ''

The Trial ''The Trial'' (german: Der Process, link=no, previously , and ) 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 pr ...

'' and ''

Malone Dies ''Malone Dies'' is a novel by Samuel Beckett. It was first published in 1951, in French, as ''Malone meurt'', and later translated into English by the author. ''Malone Dies'' contains the famous line, "Nothing is more real than nothing" – a ...

)'' * 1971: ''Shekhina: The Bride'' ( Leon Katz's adaptation of

) * 1978: ''

; Some Such Things'' * 1980: ''Glasshouse'' (written by Fatima Dike) * 1982: ''Yossele Golem'' (written by Dan Horowitz) * 1986: ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

;

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( it, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, link=no ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist fiction, absurdist metatheatrical, metatheatric play about th ...

'' * 1988: ''

'' * 1990: ''

The Chairs ''The Chairs'' (french: Les Chaises) 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, age ...

''; ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

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

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' * 1993: ''

La Juive ''La Juive'' () (''The Jewess'') 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, Paris, on 23 February 1835. Composition history ''La Juive'' was one of t ...

'' * 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. The play has been can ...

'' * 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

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