Avital Shira

Avital Shira is a arts leader, community organizer, and educator who is passionate about working at the intersection of community, story, and social impact. A theatre director by training, Avital also has a background in creative entrepreneurship. In addition to her arts practice, Avital is especially interested in applying the foundational skills of storytelling and the creative arts outside of traditional arts settings, influencing the ways we use narrative in the realms of science communication, political advocacy, and business leadership.

Avital serves as a lecturer in the School of Literature, Media, and Communications as welll as in the School of Arts, Entertainment, and Creative Technologies at Georgia Tech. She is also the Director of Arts Integration and Innovation for Georgia Tech Arts.  She has previously taught at Tufts University and Boston University. While in Boston, Avital also consulted for gradient, served as Director of Strategy and Engagement for Creative Re/Frame, ran the Arts Startup Incubator at MIT, and served as the Strategic Director for Boston University's IDEA Con, the world's largest innovation and entrepreneurship conference for students.

Avital graduated with an MFA in Directing and a graduate certificate Arts Management from Boston University in 2020. Avital also holds a degree in Theatre Studies and English literature from Yale University, where she was awarded both the Branford Arts Prize and the James S. Metcalfe Prize for drama.

Avital's 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 LABOURS LOST (Post 5). Avital also has a strong interest in developing new work, and has recently been involved in workshopping and directing staged readings of new plays by playwrights including Sarah Mantell, E.M. Lewis, Ali Viterbi, Danielle Frimer, and Ash.

Prior to graduate school, Avital worked for two years leading community engagement strategy on the ground in Colorado for the Markle Foundation's Skillful initiative, and spent six years traveling the United States, directing and assistant directing in cities all around the country.

Avital is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, is a Spark Grant award winner, and was named Best Director at the 2012 Portland Outdoor Shakespeare Festival for her production of Twelfth Night.