Khyva St. Albans (-), also known as Zara Alexeyewa, Ayenara Alexeyeva,
and Elinore Saenger, was an American actress, dancer, and
choreographer. She was a longtime resident of Ajijic, on Lake Chapala
in Mexico.Elinore Saenger was born in New York City, although she
claimed other birthplaces, including France. Her parents were
musicians; her mother was organist Charlotte Welles Saenger, and her
father was baritone singer and voice coach Oscar Saenger. Both parents
supported and financed St. Albans' hopes of a theatrical career, until
Oscar Saenger died in .St. Albans appeared in two shows on Broadway;
she played Juliet opposite George Relph's Romeo in a production of
Romeo and Juliet, and she played a dancer in Ruth Sawyer's The
Awakening (), costarring with Theodore Kosloff. Neither show was
well-reviewed; the New York Times called The Awakening "a weird and
very artificial play" "almost unbelievably crude and old-fashioned."
Metcalfe, a writer in Life, mused that "Someday, perhaps, we shall
have a Society for the Prevention of Ladies Who Think They Can Act,
but Can't, [and] a League for the Suppression of Persons Who Write
Plays But Shouldn't. Had either of these organizations been in
successful existence we should never have had 'The Awakening' with
Khyva St. Albans." Of her Juliet, Heywood Broun in the New York
Tribune wrote that "there was no passion in the performance of Miss
St. Albans. She was a Juliet of the sort who would have suggested a
long engagement, deferring marriage until such time as she had
finished her schooling and Romeo had a steady job". St. Albans
translated a work by Leonid Andreyev as The Painted Laugh, which she
starred in and produced for the London stage in . Basil Rathbone was
the male lead. The production became infamous when she and her mother
suddenly disappeared after bad reviews for the first matinee, leaving
the show's backers and cast unpaid. She was eventually found in a
Paris hotel.
and Elinore Saenger, was an American actress, dancer, and
choreographer. She was a longtime resident of Ajijic, on Lake Chapala
in Mexico.Elinore Saenger was born in New York City, although she
claimed other birthplaces, including France. Her parents were
musicians; her mother was organist Charlotte Welles Saenger, and her
father was baritone singer and voice coach Oscar Saenger. Both parents
supported and financed St. Albans' hopes of a theatrical career, until
Oscar Saenger died in .St. Albans appeared in two shows on Broadway;
she played Juliet opposite George Relph's Romeo in a production of
Romeo and Juliet, and she played a dancer in Ruth Sawyer's The
Awakening (), costarring with Theodore Kosloff. Neither show was
well-reviewed; the New York Times called The Awakening "a weird and
very artificial play" "almost unbelievably crude and old-fashioned."
Metcalfe, a writer in Life, mused that "Someday, perhaps, we shall
have a Society for the Prevention of Ladies Who Think They Can Act,
but Can't, [and] a League for the Suppression of Persons Who Write
Plays But Shouldn't. Had either of these organizations been in
successful existence we should never have had 'The Awakening' with
Khyva St. Albans." Of her Juliet, Heywood Broun in the New York
Tribune wrote that "there was no passion in the performance of Miss
St. Albans. She was a Juliet of the sort who would have suggested a
long engagement, deferring marriage until such time as she had
finished her schooling and Romeo had a steady job". St. Albans
translated a work by Leonid Andreyev as The Painted Laugh, which she
starred in and produced for the London stage in . Basil Rathbone was
the male lead. The production became infamous when she and her mother
suddenly disappeared after bad reviews for the first matinee, leaving
the show's backers and cast unpaid. She was eventually found in a
Paris hotel.
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