About
Debórah Eliezer (she/her)
I am a white/Middle Eastern theatermaker and cultural activist. As an artist, educator, producer and facilitator I share my passion for the power of human transformation through the narrative of complexified identity. As a recent California fire survivor, I amplify climate crisis through lived experience and support healing by creating experiences that explore nature and community ritual.
As a cultural leader, I serve on the MENA Alliance of Theatre Makers committee (MENATMA) and Alliance of Jewish Theatre’s antiracist committee, and am an Associate Artist with Golden Thread. Today, I serve as Artistic Director of the newly formed arts and wellness hub, Aviva Arts. Our current projects include Burning Wild, a docu-myth ritual about the California wildfires and a Fall 2022 tour of (dis)Place[d], the incredible history of the Iraqi Jews and my father’s story of underground resistance.
As a creator, my work focuses on disrupting assumptions about art, human values, and society. Weaving together practices such as voice, movement, dance, puppetry, and imagination, I create multidisciplinary tapestries of meaning which center human relationships. I have had the pleasure of working with amazingly diverse ensemble artists and playwrights including Katie Pearl, Yussef el Guindi, Denmo Ibrahim, Torange Yeghiazarian Kate Tarker, Fabrice Melquiot, Angela Santillo, Sheila Callaghan, Doug Dorst, Yussef el Guindi, Denmo Ibrahim, Torange Yeghiazarian and Ben Yalom.
From 1995-2001, I was the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Eclipse Dance Theater, and the Artistic Director of foolsFURY theater from 2011-2022. With foolsFURY, I wrote and toured (dis)Place[d], which is featured in Michael Malek Najjar’s book, Middle Eastern American Theatre: Communities, Cultures and Artists(Bloomsbury, 2021). Other foolsFURY world premieres include; Dionysus Was Such a Nice Man, by Kate Tarker, The Unheard of World by Fabrice Melquiot, Faulted by Angela Santillo, Port Out, Starboard Home with Sheila Callaghan, Monster in the Dark with Doug Dorst. Golden Thread productions include Ziryab’s The Fifth String by Torange Yeghiazarian, Ecstasy a Water Fable by Denmo Ibrahim and Karima’s City, by Yussef El Guindi.
As a professional voiceover artist, you can hear my voice in hundreds of commercials, video games including The Sims 2,3, & 4, Monopoly and The Godfather. I also teach throughout the Bay Area and maintain a private coaching practice. I recently starred in the short film Wresting Place written and directed by Coral Cohen.
