Levantine Cultural Center - Playwright Bios

Felix Pire - Actor/Writer/Director

Pire's film acting debut was in the Universal sci-fi film 12 Monkeys, directed by Terry Gilliam. This was followed by a starring role in an independent film I''s My Party, directed by Randal Kleiser, and Dear God, a Paramount release directed by Garry Marshall.

On television, Pire created the role of "Russ" as a dramatic series regular in CBS's Matt Waters. And in March of 2001, as a guest star on ABC's "Gideon's Crossing." He won the Arizona Theatre Company's National Latino Playwriting Award in August 2001 for his solo comedy about growing up Cuban-American in Miami entitled: "The Origins of Happiness in Latin." Pire created the play under fellowship as an actor-playwright in 1998-99 at the Mark Taper Forum's Latino Theatre Initiative in Los Angeles, California (artistic directors: Luis Alfaro, Diane Rodriguez). The play earned the California Community Foundation¹s Brody Arts Grant for its development in 1999, and excerpts were commissioned by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in February, 2000. Pire's feature screenplay, "Transients in Arcadia" (inspired by the O. Henry short story) became a finalist for the 1999 Sundance Feature Film Program's screenplay award, and a semi-finalist in the 2001 New York Latino International Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Pire was chosen as a semi-finalist for the Universal Studios Hispanic Film Project in 1996 for his adapted short screenplay, "Borders."

Pire graduated from the New World School of the Arts in Miami in 1989. In March of 1996, he became the first recipient of the New World School of the Arts Distinguished Alumnus Award. While in high school, Pire received a Level II Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and became a semi-finalist for Presidential Scholar in the Arts. In 1993, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree for acting and directing, with an emphasis in film at Southern Methodist University. While there, Pire received the Bob Hope Artistic Scholarship and two consecutive grants from the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

This evening marks Mr. Pire's directorial debut. Read the L.A. Times article about this program.

PRODUCER BIO

Jordan Elgrably

A Los Angeles native who grew up in Echo Park and Silverlake before moving to Paris, France to finish his studies, Jordan Elgrably is a writer, producer and cultural activist. He has produced more than 100 cultural arts programs in Los Angeles, New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C., including festivals, concerts, literary events and conferences. In 1999 he served on the music advisory board of the World Festival of Sacred Music, for which he produced "Poetry of Peace," a concerrt at the Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles featuring Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Sheva, and guest artists including Ali Jihad Racy.

From 1980-1990 he was based in Paris and Madrid, Spain, where he worked as a journalist and organizer. Back in Los Angeles, he founded the Sephardi/Mizrahi arts society, Ivri-NASAWI, in 1996, and Open Tent MiddleEast Coalition in 1998. Most recently he laid the groundwork for the creation of Levantine Cultural Center and is a member of the Board of Directors. Elgrably is an Arab Jew who is in demand as a public speaker on Sephardi/Mizrahi cultures and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has appeared on television including channels 4, 5 and 7, as well as Armenian TV; and has been a guest on such public radio stations as KABC, KCRW, KPFK, KPCC and KXLU, in Los Angeles, as well as WBAI in New York, the BBC and the Voice of America. Elgrably's fiction has appeared in such literary publications as The Paris Review and Salmagundi and in the anthology Sephardic American Voices, Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy (Brandeis 1996). As a cultural reporter, his journalism has appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, El País and Vogue España, among others. He is editing a novel about Arab/Jewish identity and the Middle East conflict, along with a collection of essays. Currently he serves as the editor of CriminalDefense Weekly at CriminalDefense.com.




Visit Our Calendar Sign Our Mailing List Contact Us Home				THE NEW MILLENNIUM PROJECT Responses to September 11^th, 2001 Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA. 90291 an anthology of short plays directed by Felix Pire produced by Jordan Elgrably DIRECTOR BIO Felix Pire - Actor/Writer/Director Pire's film acting debut was in the Universal sci-fi film 12 Monkeys, directed by Terry Gilliam. This was followed by a starring role in an independent film I''s My Party, directed by Randal Kleiser, and Dear God, a Paramount release directed by Garry Marshall. On television, Pire created the role of "Russ" as a dramatic series regular in CBS's Matt Waters. And in March of 2001, as a guest star on ABC's "Gideon's Crossing." He won the Arizona Theatre Company's National Latino Playwriting Award in August 2001 for his solo comedy about growing up Cuban-American in Miami entitled: "The Origins of Happiness in Latin." Pire created the play under fellowship as an actor-playwright in 1998-99 at the Mark Taper Forum's Latino Theatre Initiative in Los Angeles, California (artistic directors: Luis Alfaro, Diane Rodriguez). The play earned the California Community Foundation¹s Brody Arts Grant for its development in 1999, and excerpts were commissioned by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in February, 2000. Pire's feature screenplay, "Transients in Arcadia" (inspired by the O. Henry short story) became a finalist for the 1999 Sundance Feature Film Program's screenplay award, and a semi-finalist in the 2001 New York Latino International Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Pire was chosen as a semi-finalist for the Universal Studios Hispanic Film Project in 1996 for his adapted short screenplay, "Borders." Pire graduated from the New World School of the Arts in Miami in 1989. In March of 1996, he became the first recipient of the New World School of the Arts Distinguished Alumnus Award. While in high school, Pire received a Level II Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and became a semi-finalist for Presidential Scholar in the Arts. In 1993, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree for acting and directing, with an emphasis in film at Southern Methodist University. While there, Pire received the Bob Hope Artistic Scholarship and two consecutive grants from the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund. This evening marks Mr. Pire's directorial debut. Read the L.A. Times article about this program. PRODUCER BIO Jordan Elgrably A Los Angeles native who grew up in Echo Park and Silverlake before moving to Paris, France to finish his studies, Jordan Elgrably is a writer, producer and cultural activist. He has produced more than 100 cultural arts programs in Los Angeles, New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C., including festivals, concerts, literary events and conferences. In 1999 he served on the music advisory board of the World Festival of Sacred Music, for which he produced "Poetry of Peace," a concerrt at the Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles featuring Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Sheva, and guest artists including Ali Jihad Racy. From 1980-1990 he was based in Paris and Madrid, Spain, where he worked as a journalist and organizer. Back in Los Angeles, he founded the Sephardi/Mizrahi arts society, Ivri-NASAWI, in 1996, and Open Tent MiddleEast Coalition in 1998. Most recently he laid the groundwork for the creation of Levantine Cultural Center and is a member of the Board of Directors. Elgrably is an Arab Jew who is in demand as a public speaker on Sephardi/Mizrahi cultures and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has appeared on television including channels 4, 5 and 7, as well as Armenian TV; and has been a guest on such public radio stations as KABC, KCRW, KPFK, KPCC and KXLU, in Los Angeles, as well as WBAI in New York, the BBC and the Voice of America. Elgrably's fiction has appeared in such literary publications as The Paris Review and Salmagundi and in the anthology Sephardic American Voices, Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy (Brandeis 1996). As a cultural reporter, his journalism has appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, El País and Vogue España, among others. He is editing a novel about Arab/Jewish identity and the Middle East conflict, along with a collection of essays. Currently he serves as the editor of CriminalDefense Weekly at CriminalDefense.com.