About Us & Activities
Board Member Bios
English-Speaking Union, Hawaii Board of Directors
BIO: Eden Lee Murray
Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Eden Lee Murray is a graduate of Harvard University (cum laude in General Studies, focusing on Comparative Literature), and holds an MFA in acting/directing from the conservatory theatre department of the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She is a professional actress/director—member of Actors Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild--and since moving to O'ahu in 1992, has directed or performed in every major venue on Oahu, earning eight Po'okela Awards for her work. She has taught extensively in schools as an artist/educator, and for seven years directed the Kaimuki High School Shakespeare Festival.
Since June of 2009, Eden Lee has been the Education Director at the Hawaii Theatre Center, reaching tens of thousands of Hawaii keiki across the island of O'ahu, directing/producing/presenting four productions every year, and collaborating with other arts organizations, such as 'Ohi'a Productions and the Hawaii Opera Theatre's Opera Express Education Program.
Each year Eden Lee trains the members of the Hawaii Theatre Young Actors Ensemble in a pre-professional acting program that focuses on performing Shakespeare. Her students present a full Shakespeare production every year in April. She also teaches introductory acting classes for the HTC Junior Ensemble of 6th, 7th and 8th graders as a feeder program for HTYAE.
Eden Lee has emceed the Keiki Pavilion at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival from the beginning. She is also a published author.
BIO: Paul Mitri
Paul T. Mitri has worked on over 150 productions as an actor, director, playwright, fight choreographer, dance choreographer, videographer and producer. He was the Principal Founder and served as Artistic Director of the Seattle Shakespeare Company. Currently the Chair of UH-Manoa's Department of Theatre and Dance, other administrative positions include Director of Theatre at the American University in Cairo, Egypt; Artistic Director of Salem Theatre Company and Summer Theatre in Salem, MA; and the Artistic Director of All the World's a Stage Theatre Company. In Hawaii, he is a multiple Po'okela Award recipient for acting and directing and serves as Vice President on the board of the Hawaii State Theatre Council. He is also a past judge for the Hawaii Branch segment of the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition.
At UH, Paul teaches advanced voice, movement and acting classes, including Auditioning, Period Styles, Shakespeare, Stage Combat, and Dialects.
As an actor, roles have included Leo in Leading Ladies, George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, John Barrymore in I Hate Hamlet; Igor in the musical Young Frankenstein, Richard in Richard III and appearing in LOST, Off the Map, and Hawaii Five-O. Other Shakespearean roles include Puck, Petruchio, Oliver, Hotspur, Iago, Lysander, Macbeth, and two Claudios. Directing credits include the English language premiere of the newly reconstructed Brecht play The Judith of Shimoda, Hamlet, the Hawaii premiere of the musical Spring Awakening, Children of a Lesser God, Hamlet, Macbeth, Servant of Many Masters, Inventing Van Gogh, Art, Grease, Dracula, The Complete Works of Wm Shakespeare Abridged, and his own play Moliere. Paul also recently served as Dialect Coach for ABC-TV's Last Resort. He is a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA, and received his BA in Stage Movement and his MFA from the Professional Actors' Training Program at the University of Washington.
