Hello there. I’m Ilana.

I am Chief Storyteller with Emursive Productions, the producers of Punchdrunk’s off-Broadway production Sleep No More at The McKittrick Hotel and the highly-anticipated Life And Trust. I have worked with Sleep No More since 2012 in various roles, including as a Cast Member, Private Events Producer, and Creative Copywriter. Emursive Productions has taught (and continues to teach) me the rewards of learning every facet of an organization, as well as the creative strategy, fortitude, and teamwork required to pull off an endeavor of this magnitude. If you haven’t yet experienced these shows… what are you waiting for?! I hope to encounter you within those shadowy halls.

I completed my doctorate in English Literature (Theatre and Performance) at Columbia University, and wrote a dissertation on embodiment and possession in 21st century Anglophone drama. My committee of renowned academic advisors (Professors Jean Howard, W.B. Worthen, and Julie Peters) exhibited boundless patience and generosity as I snuck in baffling references to ventriloquists, bodysnatchers, parasites, and shapeshifters… much to their puzzlement and dismay.

I earned my Master’s degree in Literary Studies at Queen’s University Belfast under the supervision of Professor Mark Thorton Burnett. There, I wrote my MA thesis on Global Shakespeare and Dance, analyzing Shakespeare adaptations from Brazil, Denmark, Germany, India, Italy and Mexico. I also developed an insatiable appetite for Northern Irish coastlines and UK chocolate.

I earned my Bachelor’s degree at Cornell University, majoring in English Literature and minoring in Theatre. Cornell provided a vast canvas for many of my creative pursuits: I co-founded a Shakespeare theatre company, taught literature classes in Auburn Maximum Security Prison with the Cornell Prison Education Program, choreographed and performed with a dance troupe, traveled to Uganda to teach standard American acting techniques, and gave walking tours of the university.

I consider myself nestled in the interstices of literary studies, performance theory, dance history, and adaptation studies. I believe that literature and theatre are provocative lenses for viewing and interrogating reality. In my view, art is an astonishing cultural compass: we can harness literature, dance, and theatre as a means of seeing ourselves and one another.

Most of all, I love unleashing the inner magic of nature + human nature through narrative. A story is a generous and elastic medium. A story can make space to accommodate all manner of twists and turns; growing fat and rich from the never-ending train of voices it wants to hear. Recently, I have felt moved to create stories that bind together human artistic expression with the artistic expression of the natural world. How can we respond to flora and fauna with our own makings, in the name of a sustainable and generative future?