Today we’d like to introduce you to Eliya Rodeh.
Hi Eliya, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a passionate Israeli actress and singer, currently based in the US. I fell in love with theatre and music at a very young age. As a very shy and introverted kid, I found that music and theatre were my way to express myself and be anything I didn’t dare to be in the real world. With the support of my mother, I was lucky to take the path of artistic studies from elementary school through college while performing for local and international communities. In my early 20’s I studied classical vocal performance at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. During my studies, I was cast in the first production of ‘Into the Woods’ in Israel. It was the first time I worked on a musical, and it opened a whole new world for me. I found freedom like never before and felt that I just belonged there. So I moved to NYC, the capital of musical theatre, completed the Stella Adler Conservatory Program, and currently working on different productions, including a self-devised piece.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Living the artistic life in a big city is not easy. The struggle is real! It’s a very competitive field, full of rejection and instability. In addition to all that, being a foreigner brings its own obstacles, from acting in my secondary language, through cultural differences, to finding a community to belong to. And of course, in the last few years, COVID was a major obstacle. When the theatres shut down, I was worried that everything I worked for was gone with it. But it turned out to be an opportunity to do things that I’ve never done before. That’s when my new project Light Heart Heavy (working title) was born. It’s a play that I’m creating with Maera Daniel Hagage, the artistic director of Dirty Laundry Theatre. It’s based on true, unique stories from our lives. It’s the first time I’m doing something so personal and exposed, so it’s a completely new experience for me. We just had our first (and very successful) workshop presentation of the play, and it will get a full production later this year.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Being an actor requires a lot of hard work, training, imagination, patience, compassion, understanding of the human behavior and emotions, and so much courage. But theatre for me is more than just a personal journey. I believe in the power of theatre to bridge the gap between different people, to break down walls and bring people together. I believe it can shed light on untold stories, give voice to those who are not being heard and bring some light and humanity to dark situations. Before moving to the US, I had the privilege of being a part of a project that brought to life cabaret songs that were written in the Theresienstadt ghetto during the holocaust. The cultural life in the ghetto helped those who were imprisoned there to retain their identities and promoted their survival in an extremely dark time. Sharing that with different audiences was a humbling and meaningful experience for everyone involved. It taught me how powerful and impactful theatre can be when it is honest, truthful, and kicking. This is the kind of theatre I aspire to create. I want my art to touch people, give them a new perspective and open their hearts. I want it to question and even challenge stereotypes, belief systems and perspectives.
This is what led me to join Dirty Laundry Theatre and focus my journey on telling cross-cultural human stories and helping our audience relate to other ethnic groups they’re not necessarily familiar with or fond of. The message we want to deliver through our work is that we’re all humans dealing with this crazy roller-coaster we call life. At the end of the day, any form of art is about sharing the journey of life, our painful and happy moments, bringing comfort and joy to others and mainly letting them know they are not alone. I’m very excited about our upcoming season. This year, in addition to developing Light Heart Heavy, planned to go on stage in the fall, we are thrilled to be presenting In-Between, a one-man show that portrays the complexities and contradictions inherent in Palestinian-Israeli identity through the personal story of the son of a Palestinian Muslim father and a Jewish Israeli mother. We’d also be bringing our production Bordr back as part of our educational theatre program.
I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done so far and know that it’s just the beginning! We have a few exciting other shows in development that will be workshopped this year! Learn more: https://www.dirtylaundrytheatre.org/
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
One of my favorite memories is my first theatre experience at the age of four. It was an Israeli musical theatre version of Peter Pan. The whole production was beautiful and included many amazing actors, but one of them stood out to me – Sasson Gabay. He was playing Captain Hook and was so enchanting that instead of being intimidated, I fell in love with the character. (And until this day, Captain Hook is my favorite character in Peter Pan.) Growing up, I was so very lucky to be able to watch actors like Gabay on stage. Their incredible level of artistry drew me into the stories they were telling, they showed me the magic of theatre and how everything was made possible on stage. From a very young age, it sparked my imagination and made me fall in love with theatre and acting, and still inspires me today.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Martin Bentsen, Maya Gigi, Samia Omari, Maera Daniel Hagage, Lior Rotstein
