SIMONE YEHUDA BIO

Simone Yehuda is a bilingual (French is my first language) screenwriter who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, historian Barry Michael Shapiro.

Her adult twin daughters, Corinna Nicole Press (psychologist/artist) and Valerie Gabriella Press (physician) live in Oakland, California and Chicago, Illinois.

Simone Yehuda and her husband, Barry Michael Shapiro

Corinna Nicole Press (L) and Valerie Gabriella Press (R)

Simone’s father was a German Jewish Holocaust survivor escaping from Hitler who met her mother, a French Catholic whose own mother was a leader of the French Resistance.

She began as a poet (2 books published: THAW and LIFTING WATER). A third poetry collection, PIECES OF THUNDER, will be published in 2023. She has served as Founding Editor for ECLIPSE MAGAZINE and Poetry Editor at BRIDGES JOURNAL.

Her BA is from Bennington College. As a graduate student at Columbia University, she played flute with a NY Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the Mass Transit Dance Company.

She’s also a multi-produced playwright (including a mystery, WILLING, Off Broadway). She has served as Playwright in Residence at Detroit’s Attic Theater.

She later earned a Master’s in Screenwriting at Screenwriting U and became a Top Tier Screenwriter at Roadmap Writers.

Professor Emeritus at Siena Heights University, she’s now a full-time screenwriter. Some of her screenplays – JERUSALEM ROAD, THE NEW EVE, and LOVE AND HOMICIDE – focus on the reconciliation of opposites divided by cultural and identity barriers. She’s grateful for the mentorship of Hal Croasmun (Screenwriting U), Chris Soth (Million Dollar Screenwriting), Joey Tuccio (Roadmap Writers), Ben Shields Catlin (The Story House), and Mark Saffian (Content House).

OTHER SIMONE YEHUDA BIO INFORMATION

Simone has been identified by several names over the course of her career:

Simone Naomi Juda
Simone Juda Press
Simone Yehuda

Simone’s film production experience includes:

Associate Producer, DEBRIS (short, Periscope Productions);
Special Thanks for BUG (feature, Lionsgate/Inferno)
Casting for NAKED ANGEL (feature, Dancing Star Productions)
Production Manager for BRIDE PLUS 1 (feature, Dancing Star Productions).

Simone’s Degrees:

Certificat d’Études Françaises, Université de Lausanne
BA, Bennington College, American Literature
MA, Columbia University, Comparative Literature
Ph.D., The Union Institute and University, Comparative Literature and Creative Writing
Master Screenwriter, Screenwriting U
Top Tier Screenwriter, Roadmap Writers

Some of her awards include:

Michigan Council for the Arts: Two Artist Apprenticeship Awards
A Michigan Council for the Arts Creative Artist Award
An Artist Residency Ragdale Foundation Award
A Djerrasi Artist Resident Artist Award

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Simone is a fantastic writer.

JJ Amanda Diambrini-Palazzi

Blue Mynx Entertainment, LLC

Throughout the years, I have had the pleasure of working on numerous new scripts, both as an actor and a director. But my collaboration with Simone Press on her play, WILLING, stands out as one of the highlights of my theatrical experiences. . . Simone is a gifted writer, a poet; a sensitive, intelligent woman; an insightful human being with a grand sense of humor. . . It was this director’s paradise to work in a situation so closely with the playwright, especially such an eager, prolific talent. But it is her mastery of language that I must applaud. Simone possesses this unique talent whereby she creates an emotionally charged situation and then dramatizes it with the simplest, most believable dialogue.

Randall Forte

Director, WILLING

Randall Forte

Director, WILLING

Simone is a passionate writer who has written a unique and wonderful play. THE SIGN OF A FREE MAN is one of the most dimensional and rich plays I've found. It was amazing how open Simone was to my notes and how quickly she began to clarify her plot points and complex characters' personal histories. The reading was the most valuable part of our work together. What at first had attracted me to the play — a fascinating story with truly compelling characters — is exactly what held up.

Shira Piven

Theater Director, Movie Director, Writer

A play born of the New Playwrights Program at the Attic Theatre premiered full bloom tonight. WILLING is a play to watch. Simone Press’ play is like a Michigan farmhouse: fine, well-built, rough hewn. Under Randall Forte’s direction, WILLING, named for a town wooing the Michigan Central Railroad in 1908, is strongest as a play when the integration of set, lights, costumes and quilts are conspiring to reveal the story of a telegraph man who found the WILLING women aptly named and was dispatched to his maker. . . If you’re serious about theatre in Detroit, you must see this production. . . a mighty story told with power and drive.

Davey Marlin-Jones

Commentator, Detroit Channel 4

Simone Yehuda is a gifted and first rate storyteller. I have been fortunate to work with Simone on numerous projects through the years. She is an enormous talent and committed collaborator. Working with her on WILLING is one of my fondest artistic memories. I am proud to have been associated with both the work and the writer.

Pauline Gagnon

Professor and Chair, University of West Georgia Theatre Company

Should this play, LUCY MOONE or THE SIGN OF A FREE MAN, ever get a production, I would like to direct it. . . Simone represents all sides of an issue with equal force and clarity, an especially difficult task considering the issues at the core of the play. I love the use of humor in the piece. She doesn’t write jokes, she writes humor. She uses humor as a method of dealing with problems: the only way to go.

Guy Sanville

Artistic Director
The Purple Rose Theatre Company

Simone Yehuda

Screenwriter, Playwright, Poet

SIMONE YEHUDA BIO

OTHER SIMONE YEHUDA BIO INFORMATION

Screenplays

The New Eve

Jerusalem Road

Matadora!

Love & Homicide

Willing

Selected Testimonials

Contact

SIMONE YEHUDA BIO

OTHER SIMONE YEHUDA BIO INFORMATION

Screenplays

Selected Testimonials

Contact

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