Linda Alper

Linda has been a leading actress Off Broadway, at major U.S. regional theatres and during 24 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the largest regional repertory theatre in the United States. She has won critics’ awards for performance and an Oregon Arts Commission Grant for individual contribution to the arts. As a Resident Artist at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, her leading roles have included Hazel in The Children, Nora in A Doll’s House Part 2, Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, Lynn Fontanne in Ten Chimneys, Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest and Esther in Arthur Miller’s The Price.  She has also appeared in leading roles with Portland Shakespeare Project and Portland Center Stage.

As a playwright, Linda has co-written theatrical adaptations and/or translations, produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center, ACT in San Francisco, Virginia Rep, The Acting Company as well as Santa Cruz, Colorado, Stamford (UK) and other Shakespeare festivals. 

Most recently, she wrote Shanghai, commissioned by Artists Rep, about Jewish refugees who survived WW2 by escaping to Shanghai, China.  Shanghai had a “pre-production with LAUNCH PAD, at UCSB, and was chosen for readings by San Diego Rep, Portland Shakespeare Project, Artists Rep and Desert Island Studios.

As a Fulbright Senior Scholar, Linda was an Associate Professor at Soochow University in Taipei, Taiwan.  She was a Lecturer for ten years at Southern Oregon University and a Guest Lecturer at California State University, Peking University, National Taiwan University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and other colleges.  She has contributed to international theatre conferences as a workshop leader, lecturer and keynote speaker and received a Taiwanese National Science Grant to stage a reading of her original play “Talk/No Talk,” with a Taiwanese and American cast.  

As a Fulbright Specialist Grantee in Islamabad, Pakistan, Linda worked with Theatre Wallay, the only theatre there committed to peace building and education.  Supported by a U.S. Cultural Affairs Grant, Linda devised a script and produced a tour in which 14 Pakistani artists traveled to OSF and Artists Rep to share their stories and engage in cultural exchange.

Linda is passionate about international work and serving as a cultural ambassador.  She has also received Fulbright travel grants and was a Guest Artist at the American Academy in Rome.  She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.