Stage Director, ARTISTIC LEADERRick Lombardo is an award-winning American Stage Director, Artistic Director, Adapter, and educator. He is currently a Professor of Practice in Musical Theatre at Penn State University. He most recently served as the Director of The Penn State School of Theatre as well as Artistic Director of Centre Stage. As an artistic leader he also served for six seasons as the Artistic Director at San Jose Repertory Theatre (LORT B), as well as the Producing Artistic Director at Boston's New Repertory Theatre for thirteen seasons.
In San Jose his work included world premieres of both plays and musicals, as well as significant revivals. Noteworthy among these was the world premiere of the musical The Snow Queen, which he also co-wrote, along with the new play Game On by Tony Taccone and Dan Hoyle, (Best New Play - Theatre Bay Area Awards 2014) and Love in American Times by Philip Kan Gotanda. The Snow Queen became a featured selection at the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival, (Festival awards for Best Overall Design and Special Licensing Award) and is currently available for licensing. Other San Jose Rep productions include The Death of the Novel, Disconnect, God of Carnage, A Christmas Carol, Spring Awakening, The Dresser, Black Pearl Sings!, The Weir, and As You Like It. He was a four-time nominee for Outstanding Director, Large Theatre by the Bay Area Theatre Critics Association for San Jose Rep productions. |
Albatross
www.albatrosstheplay.net "Evett’s performance is spellbinding, Rick Lombardo’s direction is dynamic and focused, and the finely attuned production design serves as a living argument for the poetic possibilities of the theatrical form." WBUR - Boston's NPR station The Snow Queen www.thesnowqueenmusical.com "A fairy tale that rocks" - NY Times Winner of the 2014 Stage Rights/NYMF Publishing Award, a program of The New York Musical Theatre Festival, as well as the award for Outstanding Production. (available for licensing) |
"...artistic director Rick Lombardo has staked his claim to a place in a very small group of modern Shakespeare visionaries"
-The San Jose Metro
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For 13 years he was the Producing Artistic Director of Greater Boston’s New Repertory Theatre, overseeing its remarkable rise to become one of New England’s leading mid-size theaters during his tenure. He was awarded the Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence from the Boston Theatre Critics Association for his body of work there. At New Rep his award-winning productions included The Clean House, Sweeney Todd, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ragtime, Waiting for Godot, Into the Woods, The Threepenny Opera, The Pillowman, Quills and The Weir. His original rock musical adaptation of Moliere's Scapin opened there in 2002. In 2006 he created the series called Their Voices which presented programs including plays, films, and symposia exploring personal artistic responses to the Israeli Palestinian crisis. His world premiere at New Rep of Bill W. and Dr. Bob enjoyed an extended run off-Broadway at New World Stages in New York. His production of According to Tip, about Tip O'Neill starring Ken Howard also moved to a commercial run after New Rep. He also created a collaborative program with Brandeis University where exceptional third year graduate students in acting interned at New Rep and had the opportunity to earn AEA membership.
His musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol has been staged in several states and Canada, and continues to be produced annually at Portland Stage in Oregon. Using intricate musical arrangements of period Victorian carols (arrangements by Anna Lackaff), it is a faithful adaptation of Dickens, and is available for licensing. His rock musical adaptation of Moliere's Scapin, written with composer Haddon Kime, is also available for licensing. The Snow Queen, co-written with Haddon Kime and Kirsten Brandt, was called "A Fairy Tale That Rocks" by The New York Times in July, 2014, has been staged on multiple continents and continues to be produced. |
His work has also been seen at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Arizona Theatre Company, New York City's Town Hall, Opera Boston, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, The Actors Shakespeare Project, Actors Express, The Gloucester Stage Company, Porthouse Theater, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Dad's Garage Theatre, The New Amsterdam Theatre Company, and the Atlanta Lyric Theatre, among others. Off Broadway productions have been at such venues as New World Stages, New York's City Center, and 59E59 Theatres. He has co-produced with many of America's leading theaters, including The Cleveland Playhouse, Trinity Repertory Company, Alliance Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre and the Arizona Theatre Company. He was the Founding Artistic Director of the off-Broadway Stillwater Theatre Company in New York, and also served as the Artistic Director of The Players Guild in Canton, Ohio for four seasons.
Rick served as the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University in Metro Atlanta, where he also founded the summer outdoor professional theatre, Shakespeare Kennesaw. He also previously served as the Interim Co-Director of the Theatre Program at Fordham University's College at Lincoln Center, where he was an Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing. He has also taught and/or guest directed at the following universities: Yale University, Brandeis University, Boston University, The University of Akron, San Jose State University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and The City University of New York. Rick is a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum, Silicon Valley. He was honored to serve on the Executive Board of The Society of Stage Directors, as well as serving for ten years as the President of NEAT, the Association of New England Area Theaters, the Executive Committee of The National New Play Network, and the boards of both StageSource and ArtsBoston. |