Wendy Kout

Playwright / Producer

Wendy Kout is an award-winning writer/producer of stage, film, virtual screen, and television. SURVIVORS was commissioned by CenterStage Theatre of Rochester, New York, and has been touring schools and stages there since 2018. Recent productions of SURVIVORS toured schools in Philadelphia and Victoria, BC, Canada, and a West Coast tour launched in spring 2023. NEVER IS NOW, an iteration of SURVIVORS, had an acclaimed world premiere at Skylight Theatre Company in Los Angeles, in September 2019 and was also performed at the USC Fisher Museum, and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Wendy’s film credits include Co-Writer and Co-Producer of Jacob the Baker, and writing award-winning Dorfman in Love, starring Elliott Gould, Sara Rue, and Haaz Sleiman. Television credits include Creator and Co-Executive Producer of the Golden Globe and ASCAP award-winning ABC series Anything but Love, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis. Wendy considers the writing and launching of SURVIVORS to be her greatest responsibility and her greatest honor.

Genie Benson

TEEV (Producer)

Genie Benson is the Executive Producer at TEEV. Founded in 1994, this full-service company produces concerts, conferences, festivals, galas, and live-stream events for organizations, universities, and cultural festivals throughout North America. Genie has worked on the productions of Israel 60 at the Kodak Theatre, Save a Child’s Heart galas at CSUN and UCLA, all local Los Angeles shows with TEEV artists, and built national tours for TEEV’s Israeli artists. Genie is also the Executive Director of Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble, an Israeli contemporary dance company who for forty years has toured the world breaking down barriers of difference through dance. The child of Holocaust survivors, Sidonia and Lewis Lax, Genie is an unassailable advocate for Holocaust Education and is determined to bring the play SURVIVORS to students everywhere.

David Azulay

Co-Producer / Consultant

Founder of Teev Events, David Azulay is widely recognized as the leading Israeli music agent, producer, and manager in North America. David is dedicated to introducing audiences to the highest quality, cutting edge, and diverse Israeli culture. He has worked with Jewish organizations, universities, performing arts centers, and music and cultural festivals internationally. Most leading Israeli artists are represented by David and Teev. Throughout his career, he has always strived to build connections between cultures and people, and to create atmospheres for better understanding, harmony, and peace though art. Working with Arts For Change on SURVIVORS brings all of these elements together. With  30 years of experience, David produces conferences and events across the globe, working with large communities and renowned organizations to deliver high quality, historic events.

Previous productions include:  Israel’s 50^thand other White House events during the Clinton administration, Times of Israel Award Ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria, NYC, showcasing Israel’s contributions to the world, with President Shimon Peres, actress Gal Gadot, model Bar Refaeli, and many more. IAC National conferences 2017 – 2021 – The largest Israeli-American gathering in the US with over 3000 delegates and dignitaries, the US President, and members of US Congress. Ishay Ribo @Madison Square Garden – The first ever Israeli artist to headline the legendary MSG to a SOLD OUT crowd.

Gary Benson

Project Coordinator

For the past 40 years, Gary has specialized in the design and installation of high-end audiovisual systems within the entertainment industry. Along with his voiceover and VOG experience, he has lent his talents to all Arts for Change theatrical endeavors, which include editing the historical audio and video projections for SURVIVORS as well as for the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble presentations.  He is also very involved with the SURVIVORS West Coast tour, lending his AV experience, recording his voice and live VOG at performances. It has meant the world to Gary to be part of this extraordinary project. History teaches us to remember the costly mistakes of the past so that we never repeat them. SURVIVORS puts this important message squarely before us now.

Evie Abat

Director

Evie Abat is a former doctoral-level psychotherapist turned actor turned writer/director/producer. As an actor, she has been seen on stages around LA in such productions as Bloodletting (Playwrights Arena), Othello (Griot Theatre), America Adjacent (Skylight Theatre), The Late Wedding (Son of Semele), Titus Andronicus (BoomStick Theater), and the world premiere of Never Is Now (Skylight Theatre), which was developed from the personal accounts, included in this production of Survivors. She wrote, directed, and produced the award-winning short, Dad’s Gone Wild, and won best short script and semi-finalist in the festival circuit with her dramedic script, Romeo and Julio. Her full-length play, The Book of Mom, enjoyed its first live reading last December at Two Roads Theater.

She made her directorial debut in film last fall with a short she wrote and produced, called Dad’s Gone Wild, which is currently in post-production, and whose script has made official selection in several diversity script festivals. Her feature-length romcom script has also won and been named an official selection in writing festivals and is currently in pre-production for the Fall. She is proud to be directing the West Coast production of SURVIVORS. Evie thanks Wendy, Genie, Gary, and her actors for their trust and support!

Chrissy Bergeron

Stage Manager

A Native of Boston, Chrissy graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her stage career began in New York where she performed Off-Broadway in Woman of Manhattan, The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie and The Women. Chrissy now calls Los Angeles her home. Her on screen credits include City of Love, Sounds of Silence, Bad Kill and the mini-series The World According to Billy Potwin, opposite Kevin Sorbo. Chrissy transitioned into producing for Christopher Priest's The Stooge starring Robert Picardo, Lupita and Dad's Gone Wild. Her directorial debut in Work of Heart won her a nomination for Best New Director (Out Of The Can International Film Festival). Chrissy is honored to be part of SURVIVORS and feels it's a poignant piece of theatre for all walks of life.

Tomer Ronen

Technical Director

Tomer Ronen is a seasoned Live Sound Engineer from Orange County with fifteen years of expertise as a live sound engineer and designer. Founder of TR Sound LLC, Tomer specializes in events and tours, providing top-notch technical support and high-end sound solutions. Notable credits include Ishay Ribo, Omer Adam, Hanan Ben Ari, and Idan Raichel Project USA Tours. With a strong background in major events, Tomer is a creative problem solver ready for any challenge. Being part of the SURVIVORS team tour is not just a job; it's an opportunity to elevate the audience experience and contribute to the power of storytelling through sound.

Sara Seltzer

Production Assistant

Sara Seltzer earned her BM in Orchestral Strings/Violin Performance, summa cum laude, from the nationally renowned department of music at California State University, Northridge. Honing her technical prowess and artistic sensitivity throughout years of performing, Sara’s knack for analytical thinking opened additional doors into production, administration, event planning and community outreach with the Herb Alpert Music Center and the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony. Currently, Sara is a Production Coordinator at Teev Events, and she also works with nonprofit organizations, Arts For Change and Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble. Sara leverages her on-stage and behind-the-scenes adaptability to bring a uniquely comprehensive perspective to the production process. The field of performing arts has been the most meaningful medium through which Sara has connected with her Jewish heritage, and she is honored to be on the SURVIVORS team, contributing to this powerful and much-needed production.

Gary Grossman

Skylight Theatre Company (Consultant)

Gary Grossman is the Producing Artistic Director of Skylight Theatre Company, which is recognized as a “powerhouse of new play development” by the national Dramatist Magazine, and as “a leader in play development" by the Los Angeles Times. In just the last five years, two plays originating at Skylight have been performed off-Broadway: The Wrong Man (14 New York Award nominations), and Church & State (65+ productions nationally). Skylight and its artists have been recognized locally and nationally, including the prestigious Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Citation for Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea. In 2019, Center Theatre Group remounted Skylight’s multiple award-winning production of Rotterdam at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as a part of Block Party. Gary is proud that Skylight Theatre Company was instrumental in the development of SURVIVORS by producing the play’s first staged reading, and in 2019, also producing an iteration of the play titled NEVER IS NOW.

Ralph Meranto

JCC CenterStage (Consultant) EAST COAST

CenterStage is the professional theatre program of the Rochester, NY Jewish Community Center. Producing Artistic Director Ralph Meranto commissioned SURVIVORS from Wendy Kout and has been at the forefront of new play development including Jason Odell Williams’ Church & State (off-Broadway 2017, OBA Nomination Best New Play), Division Street (2019), On the Market (2022), Kasha Davis’ There’s Always Time for a Cocktail (off-Broadway premiere 2015), Deb Margolin’s Imaging Madoff, Wendy Kout’s Naked in Encino, David Hein/Irene Sankoff’s My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, Stephen Kaplan’s Tracy Jones (2022), and Joshua Hershfield’s musical RISE about Jewish resistance fighters. Ralph considers bringing SURVIVORS to school and community groups to be one of the most satisfying experiences of his life.