MAYA GURANTZ
432 S Van Ness Ave, Los Angeles, CA
(510) 387-4012
mayagurantz@gmail.com
www.mayagurantz.com
Born 1977, Oakland, CA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
2012
MFA, Studio Art, University of California, Irvine
1998
BA, Literature and Theater, Yale University, distinction in both majors
Area(s) of Specialization: Video Art, Performance, Installation, Time-Based Work in Contemporary Art, Critical Theories of the
20th Century Avant Garde, Feminist Theory, Experimental Theater, Dance
SOLO EXHIBITION
2013
The Whore’s Dialogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS and PERFORMANCES
2014
Rethinking Environment, curated by RECAPS Magazine, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
2014
OC Academy, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
2013
High Desert Test Sites, Kingman, AZ
2012
UCI Graduate Exhibition, LAX><ART, Los Angeles, CA
2012
The Wild Hunt, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA
2012
Pacific Non-Standard Time, Foundation for Art Resources, Autonomie Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Friday Night Lights & Sunday Afternoons, Summercamp Project Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2011
The Great Lakes, workspace, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Ne Me Quitte Pas, University Art Gallery, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA
2011
Saved by the Eternal Telethon, Woodbury University, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Greater Los Angeles MFA Show (GLAMFA), CSU Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
2008
Nightshades, ElboShow Productions, San Francisco, CA
2008
Vera Wilde by Chris Jeffries, Shotgun Players, Berkeley, CA
2008
CLEAN, by Maya Gurantz, CounterPULSE Winter Artist-in-Residence, Temescal Labs, San Francisco, CA
2007
CLOWN BIBLE, by Maya Gurantz and Dave Malloy, Temescal Labs, Willard Metalshop Theater, Berkeley, CA
2006
365 Plays/365 Days (Week 4), by Suzan Lori Parks, Temescal Labs, Various Venues, Bay Area, CA
2006
{The 99-Cent} Miss Saigon, by Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil with Richard Maltby, Jr.,
Temescal Labs/TenRedHen Productions, Willard Metalshop Theater, Berkeley, CA
2005
Chinese Clown Cabaret by Jane Chen, Exit Theater, SF International Fringe Festival, San Francisco, CA
2004
*CLUB, by Maya Gurantz with Margaret Lee, Voltaire Street Collective, San Diego, CA
2003
Voices from the Crossroads: How the Deal Rocked Up, by Jo Carson, Mississippi Cultural Crossroads,
Port Gibson, MS
2001
Living Newspaper Project, by Maya Gurantz and Jen Mitas, Various Venues, New York, NY
2000
The Last Menagerie, by Maya Gurantz, Abrams Art Center, NY International Fringe Festival, New York, NY
2001
Carthieves! Joyrides! by Deb Margolin, Joe’s Pub, New York, NY
1999
PreParadise Sorry Now by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Present Company, New York, NY
1998
Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping by Bill Talen, Collective Unconscious, NY International
Fringe Festival, New York, NY
AWARDS/HONORS
2013
Fleishhacker Foundation Grant
2013
Puffin Foundation Grant
2012
ARC (Artist Resources Completion) Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Medici Foundation Artist Fellowship, Irvine, CA
2011
Movement Research at Judson Church Residency Performance, New York, NY
2011
UC Irvine Graduate Student Travel Grant, Irvine, CA
2009
Bay Area Critics Circle, “Vera Wilde: Best Ensemble”, San Francisco, CA
2008
Zellerbach Family Foundation Grant, San Francisco, CA
2007
“#1 Production of 2007,” East Bay Express, Oakland, CA
2007
Zellerbach Family Foundation Grant, San Francisco, CA
2007
Zellerbach Performing Arts Assistance Program, San Francisco, CA
2007
California Arts Council Artist in the Schools Grant, Berkeley, CA
2006
California Arts Council Development Grant, Berkeley, CA
2005
Puffin Foundation Grant, New York, NY With Mississippi Cultural Crossroads
2004, 2003 NEA/SAF Regional Touring, Atlanta, GA
2004, 2003 Mississippi Humanities Council Award, Jackson, MS
2003, 2002 Mississippi Arts Council Mini-Grant
Maya Gurantz
Curriculum Vitae
Page 2
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2014
Asylum Arts Residency, Garrison, New York
2008
CounterPULSE Artist in Residence, San Francisco, CA
2006
Atlantic Center for the Arts, selected by Christine Vachon, New Smyrna Beach, FL
2002-03
Mississippi Cultural Crossroads, Port Gibson, MS
2001
Paula Altvater Fellowship, Cornerstone Theater Company, Los Angeles, CA
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2013
Department of Art, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA. Lecturer.
Created syllabus for and taught Introduction to Digital Video (Fall ’13), a combined studio production/art
history survey course.
2011-12
Department of Studio Art, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA. Instructor of Record.
Created syllabi for and taught Performance & Digital Media (Winter ‘12), Introduction to Visual Culture
(Spring ‘11)
2009-10
Department of Studio Art, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA. Teaching Assistant.
Introduction to Sculpture (Fall ‘11), Introduction to Visual Culture (Fall ‘10), Theories of the Avant Garde
and 20th Century Film (Spring ‘10), Theories of Masculinity & Gender (Winter ‘10).
2009
University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Directing and Teaching Consultant.
Served as Artistic Mentor and Director for Thesis Projects in the USF Performing Arts and Social
Justice Department. Worked with students of diverse skill levels on research-based, community-based
projects in the Tenderloin.
2006-08
Turf, Willard Middle School, Berkeley, CA. Lead Artist, Director.
Led year-long project at Willard Middle School, facilitating students to write and create art around issues
of turf and identity. Helped identify, write and obtain grants for project, managed volunteers, taught and
modeled for teachers and students.
2007
Hair (Deconstructed), Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA. Lead Artist, Director.
Led year-long project at Berkely High School, facilitating exploration of the legacy of the 1960s in
Berkeley. Taught students to do interviews and other primary source research for project.
2006-07
Opera Piccola, Oakland, CA. Artist in Residence.
Taught daily, year-long writing and performance class to high school students at the East Oakland
School of the Arts (Castlemont High School). Directed performance and arranging student participation
in 365 Plays/365 Days, Week 21 (April 2-8), by Suzan Lori Parks, Oakland Metro Opera House,
Oakland, CA
2004-05
Images Theater, Planned Parenthood, San Diego, CA. Director, Teacher, Writer.
Taught playwriting, performance, and writing; also created scenes for city-wide performance of youth
theater/peer education program. Facilitated discussion and scenes around issues pertaining to
adolescents.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2013-14
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Los Angeles, CA. Consultant.
Worked with Metro to develop public-facing tours for Metro Art Moves initiative.
2008
Noodle Factory Performing Arts Center, Northern California Land Trust, Berkeley, CA, Interim
Executive Director/Lead Consultant
Worked as Interim Executive Director for Noodle Factory Performing Arts Center project. Researched,
applied for and received grants, met with variety of funders from private foundation and public sectors,
helped develop strategy and consulted on possibilities for short-term and long-term vision of the arts
space.
2007
The ARC of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Consultant.
Provided consultation on performance project with developmentally disabled adults.
2004
San Diego REP, San Diego, CA. Dramaturg, Community Researcher/Facilitator.
Facilitated development and community interviews for a new, locally-based project with Artistic Director
Sam Woodhouse, San Diego Repertory Theater, San Diego, CA
2002-03
Cultural Crossroads, Port Gibson, MS. Artist In Residence.
Artist-in-residence in rural arts organization. Duties included writing and directing plays with community
members and local teenagers, and teaching writing/performance to high school students.
SERVICE
2009-10
Co-curator of Perfect Lovers: Artists in Conversation, Lecture Series, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA.
Maya Gurantz
Curriculum Vitae
Page 3
VISITING ARTIST LECTURES
2014
Living Newspaper, Colloquium Session, Asylum Arts Residency
2013
Visiting Artist Lecture, Fall 2013 Colloquium Series, Department of Art, University of California, Santa
Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
2013
The Whore’s Dialogue, a Process (Artist Talk), Feminism & Company, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Denver, CO
2012
Conversations on the Creative Process (Lecture), UC Irvine, Irvine, CA
2009
Community-Based and Community-Researched Projects (Lecture), University of San Francisco, San
Francisco, CA
2004
Finding and Shaping Drama in Oral History, and Whose Show Is It? Managing Competing Interests in
Oral History Theater (Panel Speaker), Telling the People’s Story Conference, Mississippi Cultural
Crossroads
2004
Performance (Guest Teacher), Department of New Genres, SFAI, San Francisco, CA
PUBLICATIONS
TenRedHen (Art/Culture Weblog), 2004-Present
“Echoes”, CRuDE, École Nationale Supérieure d'Art, Bourges, 2014
“Four Thoughts on James Turrell, or Where is the Body?” (Part II of “James Turrell: A Dissent”), Notes on Looking,
April 17, 2014
“Don't Be Sad, Millennials: Today Is Actually Pretty Great! (P.S. You're All Going To Die)”, The Awl, March 19, 2014
“The Strange Pleasure of Terrible Women”, Avidly.org, March 7, 2013
“12 Years Ago,” RECAPS Magazine, February 2013
“Christmas in 3-D”, from “Lights, Camera, Christmas!”, This American Life, WBEZ, December 22, 2012
“A Closer Look at the ‘Unconventional Dancer’, InDance Magazine, September 2007
“Hanging with the Counterculture (groupies) at DisInfoCon, The Simon, December 2001
“Death of a New York Theater Scene”, The Simon, November 2001
“Manifesto, 1998”, Theater Magazine, Summer 1998
Co-Translations, with Vered Almog
Someone To Run With by David Grossman, Farrar Straus and Giroux, New York, NY, 2003
Be My Knife by David Grossman, Farrar Straus and Giroux, New York, NY, 2002
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kim Steele, “Artist reaches out to the doomsday-minded around Mohave County,” Kingman Daily Miner, October 16,
2013
Bree Davies, "Artist Maya Gurantz on textual pornography and her installation The Whore's Dialogue," Westword,
April 9, 2013
Geoff Tuck, “Weekend of March 30ish Through April (give or take)”, Notes on Looking, Mar. 29, 2011
Zachary Risinger, “Ne Me Quitte Pas: ‘Do Not Leave Me’”, New University, Mar. 1, 2011
Carol Cheh, “GLAMFA 2010”, Another Righteous Transfer!, Sept. 5, 2010
Ken Bullock, “Temescal Labs Stages Present a Double Bill,” Berkeley Daily Planet, Feb. 8, 2008
Megan Ma, “Top Picks,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, Feb. 6, 2008
Lee Hargrave, “Amazing Staging; Insanely Funny—‘Russian on the Side’, BeyondChron.org, Oct. 24, 2008
Richard Dodds, “When Oscar Met Vera,” The Bay Area Reporter, Oct. 2, 2008
Mario A Echevarria, “Vera Wilde,” SF Tribune, Sept. 28, 2008
Robert Hurwitt, “Theater Review: Vera Wilde”, San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 24, 2008
Pat Craig, “Vera Wilde,” San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 24, 2008
Sam Hurwitt “On the Fading Away”, East Bay Express, Sept 24, 2008
Emma Krasov, “Nihilists and Aesthetes of the World Unite in Vera Wilde,” Art and Entertain Me, Sept. 27, 2008
Ken Bullock, “Shotgun Players Stage ‘Vera Wilde’ at the Ashby Stage”, Berkeley Daily Planet, Sept. 25, 2008
Chad Jones, “Russian Revolutionary, Irish Scribe and Intrigue in ‘Vera Wilde,” San Francisco Examiner, Sept. 20, 2008
Sam Hurwitt, “The Year’s Best In Theater”, East Bay Express, Dec. 26, 2007
Ken Bullock, “Ten Red Hen Presents ‘Clown Bible,’ Berkeley Daily Planet, Mar. 30, 2007
Sam Hurwitt, “Smiles and Brimstone,” East Bay Express, Mar. 28, 2007
Robert Hurwitt, “Faith Takes Center Stage,” San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 25, 2007
Robert Hurwitt, “Theater’s Festival just as fringe as ever—but better,” San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 9, 2006.
Robert Avila, “{The 99-Cent} Miss Saigon,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, Mar. 24, 2006
“96 Hours: Don’t Miss”, San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 16, 2006
“Weekly Picks: Don’t Miss,” Flavorpill, Mar. 16, 2006
Sam Hurwitt, “Beyond the Fourth Wall,” East Bay Express, Mar. 15, 2006
Ken Bullock, “Producing ‘Miss Saigon’ On the Cheap”, Berkeley Daily Planet, Mar. 14, 2006
Chantel McFarland, “Healing Port Gibson,” Jackson Free Press, Sept. 17, 2003