Ilana Becker to Join Company of Fools in New Associate Artistic Director Position

Company of Fools (COF) is pleased to announce that Ilana Becker has been appointed to the new position of Associate Artistic Director. After conducting a national search that yielded more than 80 qualified applicants, Company of Fools' and Sun Valley Center for the Arts' leadership determined that Becker's expertise and passion for theatre made her the ideal candidate for the position. In her new role, Becker will assist newly promoted COF Artistic Director John Glenn and contribute to The Center's education initiatives and BIG IDEA programs. Glenn, who was recently honored with the 2016 Idaho Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, assumed leadership of Company of Fools following the recent departure of his co-artistic director, Denise Simone.

"In 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' deep commitment to community and love of storytelling," said Glenn. "Ilana possesses all of these qualities, plus a whole lot more-tremendous passion, strong artistic relationships, a love of community and abundant energy. It gives us great joy to welcome her into the Fools' family."

And Becker is more than ready to begin her new adventure with Company of Fools. "I immediately felt at home in Sun Valley, and I look forward to continuing John and Denise's mission to connect artists and audiences, said Becker. "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."

Becker comes to the Wood River Valley from New York City, where she has spent more than a decade as a theatre director and artistic leader. She 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'Neill Theatre Center's Young Playwrights Festival.

A proud member of The Civilians' R&D Group, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, DirectorsLabChicago, Bastard Playground, Fresh Ground Pepper's PlayGroup, a Playwrights Horizons Robert Moss Directing Fellow, an Emerging Leaders of NY Arts Fellow, and an Associate Member of SDC, Becker has contributed to productions as Associate Director and Assistant Director on Broadway (reasons to be pretty), off-Broadway (LCT, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, The Vineyard), at the New York Musical Festival, at BAM, and with Woodshed Collective.

As a producer, Becker has led community-driven projects including an environmental staging of Waiting for Lefty at the Hartley House; Beer Plays, an evening of short plays paired with craft beers; and Around the Block, an evening of investigative pieces inspired by and performed in five New York City neighborhoods. She is Artistic Director of Argument Sessions, 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.

Before making the move to Sun Valley this spring, Becker will serve as Terry Kinney's Associate Director for The Babylon Line by Richard Greenberg at Lincoln Center Theater; she will direct Neil Simon's Rumors for Stevens Institute of Technology; and she will be developing new plays by Tori Keenan-Zelt (Seph, Fresh Ground Pepper) and Liz Morgan (Breaking & Entering, National Black Theatre).

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