Haïa R’nana Bchiri

Biography

Haïa R’nana Bchiri is a third-year PhD student with a BA in Theater Arts and Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation from Brandeis University. She has been involved in theatre on and off stage for the past 15 years, working with Black Box Studios in NJ, the Cherubs program at Northwestern, Chicago Youth Shakespeare, and more. Haia was awarded the John Edward Hill Memorial Prize and the Herbert and Sandra Fisher Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Creative Arts and is a Phi Beta Kappa junior year inductee and recently presented her paper “Mother Cleo: The Traditions of Motherhood Behind Antony and Cleopatra” at the annual SCSC. Her primary research focus is on performances of the divine in the ancient Mediterranean world as they relate to female power and national identity, though she is generally interested in the interplay of gender and theatre as well as the ways in which performance can elevate and unearth voices that have historically been silenced or left out of the dominant narrative. She is passionate about as well as guiding and empowering the next generation of performance artists-scholars and making theatre more accessible. Recent projects include Eurydice (Director), Fefu and Her Friends (Emma/ASL consultant), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck), Circle Mirror Transformation (Theresa), Woyzeck (Fight Choreographer), and an experimental production of Peer Gynt (Solveig/Aase) devoted to accessibility at Brandeis University; Everybody (Assistant Director/Teaching Artist) with the Northwestern Cherubs program; These and Those (Ayala/Dramaturg) with San Diego Rep; and interactive productions of Hamlet (Director/Fight Choreographer), Midsummer (Puck/Director), and Taming of the Shrew (Kate), plus Cymbeline (Director) and Henry VI Part III (Clifford/Dramaturg) with CYSA Players, for whom she also works as Director of Development and Intimacy Coordinator.

Research

Education

BA in Theater Arts and Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation, Brandeis University

UCSD Credits

Trojan Women (dramaturg)

Uncle Vanya (dramaturg)