Roberta Levitow
Strand Five Co-Convener

Roberta Levitow joined CI as a Strand Five Co-Convener in July 2005. Roberta has directed over 50 productions in NYC, LA, and nationally, with a particular emphasis on developing original writing and new American work. Recent international work includes the Sept 2005 "Training Trainers" Workshop in Bistritza, Romania; "African Playwrights Conference", University of Iowa, Sept 2004; "How to Write Something New" Workshop in Bistritza/Colibitza, Romania, Aug 2004; Fulbright Senior Specialist at The National University of Theatre & Film, Bucharest, Romania, March/April 2004; Fulbright Senior Specialist Artist-in-Residence at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, October 2003; the American Honoree at the 15th Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre, 2003; leader of the "East African Theatre Workshop" in Kenya, Uganda, & Tanzania and "The Three Continents Workshop" at the Warsaw Theatre Academy, Poland (sponsored by the Center for International Theatre Development and IIE/Ford Foundation.) Accomplishments and writings featured in The New York Times, AMERICAN THEATRE Magazine, Theatre in Crisis: Performance Manifestos for a New Century, The South Atlantic Quarterly, and Writing the World: On Globalization. Participation in national service organizations includes Peer Panel for the N.E.A., the Executive Board of SSDC (The Society of Stages Directors and Choreographers) and the Executive Board of TCG (Theatre Communications Group). She was the recipient of TCG's Alan Schneider Award for directorial excellence in 1992. Presently a Visiting Professor at Bennington College, she taught from 1990-2000 as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Theatre Department at U.C.L.A. Roberta is also a co-founder of Theatre Without Borders, an informal group supporting international theatre exchange.

Ruth Margraff
Strand Five Co-Convener

Ruth Margraff joined CI as a Strand Five Co-Convener in July 2005. Ruth's new operas have been developed and produced all over the US and in Belgrade (Serbia), Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan), Istanbul (Turkey), Isle of Hydra (Greece), and published in American Theater, Theater Forum, Conjunctions, Autonomedia, The Dramatist, CHAIN, Qigong, Artes Marciales Y Algo Mas, Fight Master, Theater in Crisis, BackStage Books, etc. She's been funded by Rockefeller, Jerome and McKnight Foundations, NYSCA, TCG/ITI, Arts International, NEA/TCG, has taught at University of Texas, Brown, Fordham, and Yale, and is an alumni of New Dramatists.