About 

Elana Hershman is a New York-based actor, theater artist and educator. Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, she quickly fell in love with the performing arts and found a home and community onstage at her public middle and high schools. In college, she pursued further theater training at UCLA’s prestigious School of Theater, Film, and Television, where she graduated summa cum laude with her BA in Theater.

 

Recently, Elana has found an artistic home at Fuse Theater, where her love of the arts and commitment to social justice converge. Favorite projects with Fuse include “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” an original production developed in partnership with Breakthrough Project for Social Justice in Lodi, California, where Elana created a script based on 5th and 6th graders’ reflections on urgent social change. She is a passionate advocate for mental health and was also proud to coordinate Project Fusion: Mental Health Month, which featured a Peer Panel on the intersection of the arts and mental health and a workshop on trauma-informed teaching for theater educators.

 

As an educator, Elana has served a diverse range of students in a variety of settings, including school classrooms, summer conservatories, and online workshops. She is driven to create a safe and empowering space in the arts for students of all ages, and she carries her commitment to accessibility and social equity through all of her work.

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Outside of the theater, Elana is an avid reader, an inexpert but enthusiastic painter, and a lover of all things four-legged and furry.