Elise Thoron is a playwright and director, working cross-culturally abroad and within the United States. She collaborates with poets, fine artists, musicians to create performances in multiple languages, described in her book The Way of Washi Tales. She is Co-founding Artistic Director of Literature to Life, a highly successful theater literacy program, in its third decade nationwide, adapting books into solo performances with facilitated discussion to spark a passion for reading in young people. For over twenty years, Elise created cross-cultural exchanges with Russian and American theater artists; adapted and directed The Great Gatsby in Russian at a The Pushkin Theater in Moscow, where it played for over nine years. Her translations of Russian plays have been published and produced in USA and Canada.