ANNA ABHAU ELLIOTT
Performing Artist
AnnaAbhau at gmail.com // www.AnnaAbhau.com

Bio
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Anna works as playwright, actor, director, producer, and amateur historian to create new performances both on and far, far off stage. She seeks to create a radical community theater: how can a performance serve the citizens where it takes place? She was born in Philadelphia, PA, and attended New York University’s drama program. She interned with The Debate Society and Pig Iron Theatre Company.

From college until 2015, Anna lived in New York City, where she has performed at The Whitney Biennial (Andrea Geyer’s "Comrades of Time"), The Public Theater (600 Highwaymen’s "The Record"), PS122, The Living Theatre, The Bushwick Starr, and many others. She has worked with The Assembly since 2010, with whom she developed "Seagullmachine" (La MaMa E.T.C.) and "HOME/SICK" (New York Times Critic’s Pick).

In 2015, Anna was awarded a residency with Hub-Bub in Spartanburg, SC. In South Carolina, Anna has participated in many firsts: she has debuted new plays at the Spartanburg Little Theatre, co-founded Scrappy Shakes, which produces free outdoor Shakespeare, and created Sparkle City Improv, which offers improv shows, pay-what-you-can workshops, and event hosting throughout Spartanburg. Anna also received funding from the Chapman Cultural Center and the Spartanburg County Public Library to create "Untitled Reconstruction Project," a performance that explores the history of Reconstruction and the Ku Klux Klan. 

With her cohorts Robin Schwartzman and Desiree Moore from Hub-Bub, Anna is 1/3 of Radar Art Collective, a multi-disciplinary group that bridges the gap between contemporary art and the general public. Radar Art has created two pieces. "Cold Warm Up" (Art Shanty, Minneapolis) asked visitors to decode riddles and tell stories. "Barter Boat" is a large flashy carnival stand that invites passersby to barter for miniature sculptures. "Barter Boat" has visited 7 cities across the USA, and was chosen as a juried semi-finalist at ArtPrize 2018.

Education

New York University: Tisch School of the Arts - BFA in Drama, 2011
Founder's Day Award

Selected Performances

BARTER BOAT (with RaDaR Art Collective)
ArtPrize, Grand Rapids MI, September/October 2018
BreckCreate, Breckenridge CO, July 2018
Canal Convergence, Scottsdale AZ, February/March 2018
Art on the Beltline, Atlanta GA, October 2017
Artscape, Baltimore MD, July 2017
IN light IN Festival, Indianapolis IN, August 2016
Northern Spark Festival, Minneapolis MN, June/July 2016

SCRAPPY SHAKESPEARE
Romeo and Juliet, June 2018
Twelfth Night, June 2017
A Midsummer Night's Dream, June 2015

SEAGULLMACHINE (with The Assembly)
LaMama E.T.C. New York, NY, March/April 2018
Clemente Soto Velez Center, New York, NY, June 2014

UNTITLED RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT (with Speaking Down Barriers)
Wofford College, Staged Reading, March 2018 (dir. Crystal Irby)
Spartanburg County Public Library, Full Production, October 2017 (dir. Crystal Irby)
Spartanburg Little Theatre, Full Production, May 2016 (dir. Chandler Crawford)

HOME/SICK (devised with The Assembly)
JACK, Full Production, New York NY, March 2017 (dir. Jess Chayes)
The Odyssey Theatre, Full Production, Los Angeles, June 2016 (dir. Jess Chayes)
Wesleyan University, Full Production, Middletown CT, January 2014 (dir. Jess Chayes)
The Living Theatre, undergroundzero festival, New York City, Full Production, October 2012

TAKING TEA (with Patric Phillips)
Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, SC 2016

COLD WAR/M UP (with Desiree Moore & Robin Schwartzman)
Art Shanty Projects, Minneapolis, MN 2016

OLDIES BUT GOODIES (with Desiree Moore)
Hub-Bub Showroom, Spartanburg, SC 2015

GHOST VARIATIONS
Dutch Kills Theater Company, Reading, New York City, November 2015 (dir. Daniel Dabdoub)
Fresh Ground Pepper, Reading, New York City, August 2015
Spartanburg Little Theater, Workshop Production, June 2015

KEEP THIS FOR YOUR RECORDS
Dutch Kills Theater Company, Reading, New York City, September 2014 (dir. Annie Tippe)

Grants & Awards
  • IDA Program, The South Carolina Arts Commission, Sparkle City Improv, 2017
  • The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg Community Grant: Untitled Reconstruction Project, 2015 & 2018
  • Finalist: Fresh Ground Pepper Artist-in-Residence, 2015
  • New York University: Founder’s Day Award, 2011

Residencies
  • 2016: Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts: Multi-Disciplinary Artist, Nebraska City, NE
  • 2016: West Main Artists Cooperative: Artist in Residence, Spartanburg, SC
  • 2015: Hub-Bub Theater Artist-in-Residence, Spartanburg, SC
  • 2013 & 2015: Fresh Ground Pepper BRB Retreat, New York City/Bethlehem, PA
  • 2013: Pilot Balloon Pop-Up Artist Residency, Lawrence, KS