ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR (Shira-Lee Shalit)

We're back from our summer break!  We're turning 15 years old in just a couple of weeks...  We took a much needed vacation this summer but still managed to cook up some ideas and create some goals...  It was an incredible time during our Ensemble Retreat and we're prepared to bring you some of freshest work around...Every Monday night we'll present you with an inside look with Who's Who in the Ensemble along with some exciting news on upcoming events. 

Last season we dedicated our artitstic work to fostering new plays by established and emerging playwrights that included Joe Pintauro, Mando Alvarado, Hilary Bettis, Mike Reiss and the workshop of a short play by Resident Playwright, Michael Reyes...  We were excited about continuing our annual collaboration/residency with the Art Of Acting Studio in Los Angeles, CA.  We were also proud to produce a benefit titled ROCKAWAY which featured some new short plays by some of our 2012-2013 Resident Playwrights along with special guest playwrights like Kristina Poe, Frank Pugliese, Jesse Eisenberg, Jose Rivera and many more with a cast that included the Barefoot Ensemble with Gina Gershon, Jesse Eisenberg, Mickey Sumner, John Doman, Angelina Fiordellisi, Will Rogers, Alfredo Narciso, Craig muMs Grant and many more...  Our benefit for the Rocakway Plate Lunch Truck (Mike D of the Beastie Boys; Chef Sam Talbot; Robert McKinley) was directed by Rose Bonczek, Molly Marinik and Shira-Lee Shalit.

We're STOKED to introduce you to Shira-Lee SHALIT as one of our newest Associate Directors (along with Jerry Ruiz and Scott Illingworth).  Shira-Lee will also direct the opening reading for our upcoming bareNaked Reading Series on 9.24.13.  We're lucky to have her be part of our ensemble of actors, directors, playwrights and designers.  Our collaborations will knock your socks off - we promise!

Shira-Lee Shalit - Director

Shira-Lee Shalit is an award-winning director, writer and actor, chosen by Steven Spielberg out of 12,000  directors  as one of 12 Finalists for the Fox/DreamWorks TV show, ON THE LOT. For the LAByrinth Theatre Company’s Intensive and Intensive Ensembles, Shira-Lee has directed works by John Patrick Shanley, Frank Pugliese, Kenneth Lonergan and Halley Feiffer, and has directed for Barefoot Theatre Company’s ROCKAWAY Benefit, Nylon Fusion Collective, Vertigo Theater Company, The Jewish Plays Project, Stonestreet Studios, NY Madness and the Writers Guild East Screenplay Series.  This past summer, she directed a production of a new play, STANDBYS for the Thespis Theater Festival.      A Presidential Scholar of the Arts Awardee and Finalist in the Student Academy Awards for her first film, FULL CYCLE, Shira-Lee has written and directed many shorts and webseries.  Her feature film debut, A-LIST starring Academy Award Nominee Sally Kirkland and Daphne Zuniga, won the Audience Award at the Milan International Film Festival and a Gold Remi for Best Comedy at WorldFest Film Festival.  Shira-Lee was named one of Shoot Magazine’s ‘Up and Coming Directors To Watch’ for her short film, OPEN AIR, which was selected for 45 film festivals and won 6 awards. She received her BFA at NYU and her MFA at Columbia University.  Shira-Lee teaches master classes for The LAByrinth Theater Company and is on faculty at  Columbia University’s Graduate Film School and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Special shout-out to Monique Carboni (LABYRINTH THEATER CO.) for introducing us to this incredible powerhouse artist!!!