{"id":9334,"date":"2016-11-18T17:20:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T17:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=9334"},"modified":"2016-11-18T17:20:23","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T17:20:23","slug":"nationwide-search-brings-associate-artistic-director-to-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/18\/nationwide-search-brings-associate-artistic-director-to-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationwide Search Brings Associate Artistic Director To Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Company of Fools hires <\/i><\/span>Illana Becker<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n

By SUN STAFF<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Illana
Illana Becker will join the Company of Fools staff in the spring. Photo courtesy of Illana Becker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Illana Becker, a theater director and producer, was appointed to the new position of associate artistic director for the Company of Fools, replacing Denise Simone. Company of Fools and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts conducted a national search that yielded more than 80 qualified applicants<\/p>\n

In her new role, Becker will assist newly promoted COF artistic firector John Glenn and contribute to The Center\u2019s education initiatives and BIG IDEA programs. Glenn, who was recently honored with the 2016 Idaho Governor\u2019s Award for Excellence in the Arts, assumed leadership of Company of Fools following Simone\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this new role, we were looking for someone with a depth of experience in directing and new project development, who also shares Company of Fools\u2019 deep commitment to community and love of storytelling,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cIllana possesses all of these qualities, plus a whole lot more\u2013\u2013tremendous passion, strong artistic relationships, a love of community and abundant energy. It gives us great joy to welcome her into the Fools\u2019 family.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a New York City-based director for more than a decade, Becker has directed and developed new projects with numerous organizations, including New York Theatre Workshop, Ars Nova, The Civilians, The Lark, The Flea Theater, Dixon Place, Columbia University, Barnard College, New York University, Disney\/ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, Pittsburgh Fringe, FringeNYC, the Samuel French Festival, and The Eugene O\u2019Neill Theatre Center\u2019s Young Playwrights Festival.<\/p>\n

Becker looks forward to continuing \u201cJohn and Denise\u2019s mission to connect artists and audiences. I couldn’t be more thrilled to play a key role in this next chapter for Company of Fools and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her experience is myriad. She\u2019s a member of many theatrical groups, including The Civilians\u2019 R&D Group, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, DirectorsLabChicago, Bastard Playground, Fresh Ground Pepper\u2019s PlayGroup, a Playwrights Horizons Robert Moss Directing Fellow, an Emerging Leaders of New York Arts Fellow and an associate member of State Directors Choreography Society.<\/p>\n

Becker has contributed to productions as associate director and assistant director on Broadway, off-Broadway, at the New York Musical Festival, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and with Woodshed Collective.<\/p>\n

As a producer, Becker has led community-driven projects, including an environmental staging of \u201cWaiting for Lefty\u201d at the Hartley House; \u201cBeer Plays,\u201d an evening of short plays paired with craft beers; and \u201cAround the Block,\u201d an evening of investigative pieces inspired by and performed in five New York City neighborhoods. She is artistic director of \u201cArgument Sessions,\u201d an ongoing theatrical event series weaving verbatim U.S. Supreme Court transcripts with collaboratively created original material. Becker also previously served in artistic and tour management positions at Lincoln Center Education and All for One Theater, on the literary staff at Bret Adams, Ltd., and on the board of directors for The Other Side Intercultural Theatre.<\/p>\n

Before making the move to the Wood River Valley, Becker will serve as Terry Kinney’s associate director for \u201cThe Babylon Line\u201d by Richard Greenberg at Lincoln Center Theater; she will direct Neil Simon\u2019s \u201cRumors\u201d for Stevens Institute of Technology; and she will develop new plays by playwright Tori Keenan-Zelt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Company of Fools hires Illana Becker By SUN STAFF Illana Becker, a theater director and producer, was appointed to the new position of associate artistic director for the Company of Fools, replacing Denise Simone. Company of Fools and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts conducted a national search that yielded more than 80 qualified […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,18,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-news","9":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}