Eleanor Reissa is a storyteller in English and Yiddish – her first language. She is a Brooklyn born and bred victim/beneficiary of the NYC public school system from K through college. In spite of that (or because of it) she has lived a life greater than her own expectations. Her memoir, THE LETTERS PROJECT: A Daughter’s Journey, sets out to discover the truth about her father, a slave in Auschwitz, as well as the truth about herself. The New York State Council for the Arts has awarded her a grant to adapt her book into a play and Eleanor received a nomination for “Best Author of an Audio Book” by the SOVA Awards.

Eleanor is a multi-talented artist. She is Tony Award-nominated theatre director: Those Were the Days; a Broadway and television actress, including Paula Vogel’s Indecent, HBO’s The Plot Against America, FX’s Dead City, and most recently in the German mini-series The Zweiflers, a Cannes’ finalist. Recent films include Musical Tales of the Venetian Jewish Ghetto and Noble Genius with Hershey Felder. A prize-winning playwright, her plays have been collected in an anthology THE LAST SURVIVOR AND OTHER MODERN JEWISH PLAYS. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and commissions including: THE ADVENTURES OF HERSHELE OSTROPOLYER, for the Folksbiene Theatre, and YIDL MITN FIDL for Yiddishpiel. She is the host of the Yale University/Fortunoff Video Archive podcast: Those Who Were There: Voices from the Holocaust, now in its third season. From Carnegie Hall and Town Hall to intimate cabaret settings and international music festival, Eleanor's powerful vocals and passionate collaborations have established her as a leading voice of Jewish song. Many of her musical and theatrical performances can be found on YouTube and the Internet.