Anya is an educator, creative facilitator, published journalist, and theatre artist. She has developed and facilitated innovative curricula for middle school, high school, and college programs across Oregon and Washington and currently works with the Illumination Project, a Portland Community College peer education program utilizing interactive theatre to explore communal and social issues. In 2002, her piece “In Our Own Words” exploring the lives of Israeli and Palestinian youth was incorporated into middle and high school curricula throughout the state of Washington. Committed to experiential learning and critical pedagogy, Anya is currently completing dual graduate degrees in Conflict Resolution at Portland State University and Drama Therapy at the National Association of Drama Therapy.
In Portland, Anya has performed with Hand2Mouth, Fever Theater, The Portland Playwrights Group, Sojourn Theatre and Theatre for a Change. Anya is a founding member of The Bluestockings Theatre Company, and serves as Creative Director of the Portland-based Playback Theatre, engaging in an original form of improvisational theatre in which audience members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot.
When she’s not writing papers or designing lesson plans, Anya relieves stress by attending kick-boxing classes, creating mixed-media collage, and cooking scrumptious meals.
