Yura Kordonsky, director, educator, and Associate Chair of Directing at Yale School of Drama, and Fabio Tavares, movement teacher and faculty member at Yale and The Julliard School, will join The Actors Center’s Resident Company this fall for development workshops exploring the work of Anton Chekhov and the Alexander Technique.
Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Yura received his MFA degrees in Acting and Directing from the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theatre Arts, Russia, under the direction of Lev Dodin. He has taught, performed, and directed internationally since 1989. He was previously a resident actor and director at the renowned Maly Drama Theatre–Theatre of Europe in St. Petersburg.
His directing credits include his original play Disappearance and House of Bernarda Alba by Lorca (Maly Drama Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia); Uncle Vanya by Chekhov, The Marriage by Gogol, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, Marble by Brodsky, Bury Me Under the Baseboard by Pavel Sanaev, and Zinc Boys by Alexievich (Bulandra Theatre, Bucharest, Romania); The Lower Depths by M. Gorky and The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov (Hungarian Theatre, Cluj, Romania), The Encounter (UNESCO ITI congress, Manila, Philippines), Fatherlessness by Chekhov (Orkeny Szinhaz, Budapest), Last Day of Youth by Tadeusz Konwicki (National Theatre “Radu Stanca”, Sibiu, Romania), The Seagull by Chekhov and Erendira by Marquez (German National Theatre, Timisoara, Romania); The Heart of a Dog by Bulgakov and Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare (National Theatre, Bucharest), Peer Gynt by Ibsen, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, and The Bald Soprano by Ionesco (Wesleyan University, CT), A Diary of a Madman by Gogol (West End Theatre, Gloucester, MA), and Canterbury Tales by Chaucer (Riverside Theater, New York), among others. He recently adapted and directed a production of Gogol’s The Inspector with Yale Rep.
Yura’s productions have won numerous international awards including Golden Light, Governor’s Award, and Bravo Award for the Best Production (Russia), Union of European Theatres’ Award for the Best Production (Italy), multiple UNITER Awards for Best Production and Best Director (Romania), and the Special Prize of the Romanian Ministry of Culture.
As a performer and director, Yura has toured in more than twenty countries and taught acting and directing in the US, Russia, China, Germany, Spain, Italy, Philippines, and Romania. Since moving to the US in 2001, he taught at Wesleyan University, where he served as Professor and Chair of Theater Department, as well as at Columbia University, UC San Diego, George Washington University, Colgate University, and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
He currently serves as Associate Chair of Directing and Professor in the Practice of Directing at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
Fabio Tavares is a Brazilian artist who’s been obsessed with the human body in action from a very young age. He started off as a competitive gymnast before running away to join the circus at the age of 15 where he got his first professional job as an acrobat. Fabio moved to New York in 1999 where he’s been dancing, teaching and making art since.
He has collaborated and performed with Yvonne Meyer, chameckilerner, Miguel Gutierrez, Fisherspooner, Noemie Lafrance, Luis Lara Malvacías, Jeniffer Monson, Circus Amok, John Heginbotham, Laurie Anderson,The Dazzle Dancers, The Daisy Spurs, Stanley Love, Anna Kohler, Anne Bogart and the acclaimed SITI Company. He has also danced with Elizabeth Streb and her STREB Extreme-Action company for 14 years, and was the company’s Associate Artistic Director for a decade. Fabio’s one man show The Ex-Body based on the text “The Hamletmachine” by Henier Müller has been performed in Brazil, Europe and the US since 2010.
Fabio is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher , a certified Klein Technique teacher, and a certified Zero Balancing practitioner. He’s currently a faculty member at Movement Research, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and The Juilliard School. He previously taught at PACE University. Fabio maintains a busy practicing teaching both in the US and abroad. For more info please go to healthandpoise.com.
