A Syrian author, translator, workshop facilitator and professor of literature and theater. She teaches at Damascus University, Faculty of Arts, Department of French Language and Literature and at the Saint Joseph, University Beirut, Lebanon. She also lectured at the Institute of Dramatic Art in Damascus, Theater Studies Section, until 2007. Marie Elias facilitates and directs interactive theater projects based on stories inspired from the oral tradition. She holds the Palmes Academiques Chevalier Award and the Commandeur Award in recognition of her research missions, writings, translations and management of cultural projects. She is the Artistic Director of the Interactive Theatre in Public Schools initiative which was launched in 2009.