Our people
The Basement Keeper
With over 40 shows under his belt, Oleg Kheyfets has attracted audiences on different
continents. In Russia his shows ran for up to 9 years and received numerous awards for
best directing and acting. In The US his Boston and New York productions, The Forest by
A. Ostrovsky and Marriage by N. Gogol were invited to the festivals in Switzerland and
Russia. In 2001 Oleg Kheyfets collaborated with the legendary Arthur Miller on the Off-
Broadway revival of Miller's The Creation of The World and Other Business. In 2004
Kheyfets moved to Miami where he co-founded The PlayGround Theatre, today's Miami
Theatre Center, and ran it as a co-artistic director until 2007. Kheyfets has taught Theatre
at Columbia University, Stella Adler Conservatory and Emerson College among others.
Today Oleg Kheyfets is focusing on his new creation – The Basement Project.
The Memory Keeper
Dr. Adrienne von Lates received her Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University. Dr. von Lates has been a faculty member at Columbia University, the University of California, San Diego , the University of Miami and MDC. As the curator of education at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami from 2001 to 2009, she expanded the museum’s community programming and administered major grants from the NEA and the federal Department of Education. She WAS Director of Education at the bass Museum of Art from 2010tp 2-14 where she is implementing the IDEA@thebass program for elementary schools in Miami Beach, thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation. From 2014 to2016 she was associated with the museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami as a consultant and subsequently became the Assistant Director for Education. Dr. von Lates has written articles on a variety of topics in the fields of Baroque and contemporary art.
The House Keeper
Alexander Solodukho designed over 50 productions in Leningrad/St.Petersburg, Moscow, and other Russian cities.
For the past 26 years he has worked in U.S., designing plays and musicals for Hudson Productions, The Oakland Center for the Arts (Ohio), Ballet at City Center, and several Off-Broadway theaters including Irish Rep, Ubu Rep, Libra Ensemble, The Jewish Rep, and Urban Stages. He designed sets for musicals including Annie, West Side Story, Dreamgirls, Fiddler on the Roof, The Wiz, and plays such us Tartufe, The Disputation, Marat/Sade, The Au Pair Man, Hamlet, and Royal Family. The Basement Project's Boom is the third collaboration of Solodukho and Kheyfets. Nominated by Paper Mill Playhouse for Outstanding Achievement in Scenic Design 1998-2002. Winner of the Paper Mill Playhouse Best Musical Award, Once on this Island, 1999.
The Light Keeper
Since moving to Miami, Ron Burns has concentrated on lighting design for a variety of companies including Palm Beach DramaWorks, The Arsht Center, Barry University, the M Ensemble, City Theatre, and the Miami Summer Music Festival, all THE while maintaining his position as Technical Director for Miami Theater Center. His lighting design credits include The Fourth Wall, Souvenir, A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Gin Game, Three Tall Women, A Doll’s House, Candida, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Pittman Painters, Proof, Talley’s Folly, Dividing the Estate, and My Old Lady. Ron has also designed lighting at the Arsht Center for the Miami Made Festival, The M Ensemble production of Crowns, and Summer Shorts for City Theatre among others. Ron worked both as a Technical Director and a Lighting Designer on The Basement Project' Boom.
