ELLIE HEYMAN is an award-winning director of film and theater, including the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production and numerous Drama Desk, Lortel, Bessie, and PGA Award nominations. Ellie’s New York directing credits include The Public Theater, Lincoln Center, MCC, and La Mama. She was the Director in Residence at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater for four years. Ellie specializes in the actor's mind, body, voice connection.
Ellie's piece, The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America, featuring Glenn Close, Laura Linney, and Brian Tyree Henry, was named “Best of 2020” by the New York Times and New York Magazine. Ellie directed The Traveling Imaginary, a theatrical rock show, rated in the "top five shows of the year" by NPR and a Time Out "Critic's Pick" on two continents, with long-term collaborator Julian Koster (Neutral Milk Hotel). Ellie co-directed the narrative podcast The Orbiting Human Circus, presented by Night Vale and WNYC. It's been downloaded over five million times, rated #1 in Apple Podcasts, and features John Cameron Mitchell, Tim Robbins, Mandy Patinkin, and Charlie Day.
Ellie’s other credits include: (Still) Asking For It (The Public Theater); Space Dogs (MCC); ThisTree (Prototype); Dinner with Georgette (New York Theater Workshop, Next Door); Jason Craig & Dave Malloy's Beardo (Drama Desk Award Nomination; Pipeline Theater) Erin Markey: Boner Killer (Under the Radar/The Public Theater); Becca Blackwell's They, Themself and Schmerm (Under the Radar/The Public Theater); Adrienne Truscott's THIS (Bessie Award Nomination for Outstanding Production; NYLA) and cult classic, music-fiction podcast Dreamboy (Night Vale Presents). International credits include: Elevation 506 in Bulgaria and Home/Yuva in Turkey.
Ellie’s work began in Chicago with the site-specific company she co-founded, Big Theater. On a mission to create meaningful theater for popular audiences, Ellie experimented with combining acting training techniques including Meisner and Michael Chekhov to rehearse plays and integrated various vocal and physical methodologies. The result was electric. Actors who saw the shows requested training, and Ellie’s life as an acting teacher began. Ellie has taught Acting and Movement at Boston University, Brown University, Michael Chekhov Association, Franklin & Marshall College, Whole Physical Theatre Laboratory and The National High School Institute (Cherubs), among other notable institutions. She has privately taught and coached acting since 2008 and her students can be seen on TVs, film screens, and stages across America, including on Broadway.