Director Avital Shira’s work focuses on building and empowering communities through sharing stories. Avital (she/hers) is particularly drawn to language-rich, ensemble-driven work that encourages us to embrace the cultural traditions that preceded us, while crafting art that speaks to the here and now.

Avital recently graduated from Boston University with an MFA in Directing and graduate certificate in Arts Administration. Directing credits at BU included her thesis production of Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler, Everything That Never Happened by Sarah B. Mantell, Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady, Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, and Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage. Recent professional directing credits include Winter People by Laura Neill (Boston Playwrights Theatre), Lifeboat by Nicola McCartney (Corrib Theatre), Between Friends by Danielle Frimer (Sycamore Theatre Co @ The Brick), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Post 5).

Avital has also directed and dramaturged workshops of new plays including Why This Night by Dan Kitrosser (Artists Repertory Theatre), Bisland & Bly by Marialena DiFabbio and Susannah Jones (NYMF), and Elise Thoron’s translation of Merchant of Venice (Play On Shakespeare).

In addition to directing for Mercury 3, Avital is currently working as a DEI consultant and directing a workshop of Juliet Roll’s A Play About a Baby Carrot for San Diego Rep. Avital is a graduate of Yale University, a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and an associate member of SDC.