About
Informal Bio:
Hey. I'm Averi (she, her). I'm a writer-director, daughter, sister, friend, and, depending who you ask, possibly also a good listener and/or a clown. I recently realized that I think what I want all my work to do is to leave audiences feeling like they're holding a little less tension in their shoulders and also like they're a little less alone in the world -- and also to leave them curious about something new... or maybe something old. I believe art shapes culture, so I try to be pretty mindful about what I put into the world. I believe in play. I believe in forgiveness and growth, but also boundaries. I believe in mutual aid. I believe that "just because things aren't how they once were doesn't mean they can't be better." I've been writing a lot about America lately... I love live music. Mmmm, yeah. Never sure what to write for these things...
Formal Bio:
Averi Israel (she, her) is a writer/director from the eight cities that raised her. She moved to New York City to pursue a Film Studies degree from Columbia University, where she graduated as the class recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. Shortly after, she moved to South Korea where she set designed a production for Seoul Shakespeare Company. Now back in NYC, she is cultivating a career at the intersection of art and activism, having trained as an actor at Circle in the Square, UCB, as well as with the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, and performed at The Tank, The New Ohio, and Columbia University. As a writer, her pieces for stage and film consist primarily of historical fiction works and those that incorporate elements of Afrofuturism, seeking to root our contemporary moment in both its foundational past and visionary future. She is a 2022 recipient of the New York Foundation of the Arts and Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment NYC Women's Fund for Media Music and Theatre, and a member of Theatre Producers of Color Cohort III.
Email // Instagram // LinkedIn // Design Portfolio // Photography Portfolio
THINGS I WISH I WERE BETTER AT
(but am not actively working on at the moment):
- surfing
- painting
- spelling
- my backhand
- knowing when to take baked goods out of the oven
- juggling (currently learning clubs)
ON MY BOOKSHELF:
- bell hooks
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Octavia Butler
- André Gregory
- adrienne maree brown
- Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- Sarah Ruhl
(09.2023 reading: Watchmen)