Simón Adinia Hanukai is a theater maker, director, and educator, who splits his time between New York and Paris. Originally from Baku, Azerbaijan, he spent the early years of his career in Oakland, California, where he was a founding member of HeadRush Crew and the Co-Artistic Director of the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company. Working with both companies for six years, he was instrumental in creating original full-length dance theater pieces, which toured nationally and were seen by over 25,000 people per year. Highlights include sharing the stage with Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, Neil Young, Alfre Woodard, and Martin Sheen.
Simón’s New York, regional and international directing credits include JUPITER (a play about power) (La MaMa E.T.C., NY), The Shared Prince, (Cabaret Sauvage, Paris), Rest Upon the Wind (Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NY), The Golden Drum Year (University Settlement, NY), Les Alibis (Junevents Festival, Atelier De Paris – Carolyn Carlson, France), Decline & Fall or A Guide to How the End Begins for Those Too Big To Fail (Tricklock Performance Lab, New Mexico), The Fall (Flamboyán, NY), Flying Ace and The Storm of the Century (Superhero Clubhouse, Odin Teatret, Denmark), Wilde Kane (New York Theatre Workshop, NY), One Heart for Two (Winkel & Balktick, NY), Phaedra's Cabaret (Flux Industries, NY), Brave Ducks (Living Theatre, NY), The 6 Project (Brooklyn Arts Exchange, NY), Creditors and Birthday Triage (Columbia Stages, NY), Bumrush (2010 Hip Hop Theater Fest, NY). He has also had the privilege to assist William Forsythe on Selon (Hellerau Center in Dresden, Germany), Anne Bogart on the remounting of Death and the Ploughman (Skidmore College), Tina Landau on A Civil War Christmas (New York Theatre Workshop), and Robert Woodruff on directing Festen (Hungarian Theater of Cluj, Romania), as well as observe Robert Lepage work on Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Metropolitan Opera).
Simón is the HowlRound's World Theatre Map Ambassador, Harlem Arts Fest 2017 Artist, and a Core Member of Superhero Clubhouse, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Sciences Po Reims.
Simón is honored to be a recipient of the Dean’s Fellowship from Columbia University and the 2012-13 Emerging Artists Fellowship from New York Theatre Workshop. Artist residencies include: NACL Deep Space Residency; Odin Theater, Denmark; E|MERGE Interdisciplinary Artist Residency; Catwalk Art Residency; Sally and Don Lucas Arts Program at the Montalvo Arts Center.
He holds a Masters degree in Education from the University of San Francisco’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice and an MFA in Theater Directing from Columbia University.