Rick Lombardo (born March 24, 1959) is a prolific and award-winning American theatre director, playwright and adaptor. He is the former producing artistic director of

San Jose Repertory Theatre The San Jose Repertory Theatre (a.k.a. San Jose Rep) was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the ...

, and the former

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

New Repertory Theatre The New Repertory Theatre (New Rep) is a Boston-area regional theater company founded in 1984, it has produced more than 70 East Coast, US, or World premieres. Since 2005 New Rep has been the resident company at the Mosesian Center for the Arts i ...

Actors' Equity Association

"Boston's New Repertory Theatre Has a New Home"], 01 March 2006 in

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown ...

. Lombardo is currently the artistic director of Penn State Center Stage, and the director of the School of Theatre at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

and the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture. He is an executive board member of the

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), formerly known as Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC), is an independent national labor union established in 1959, representing theatrical directors and choreographer ...

and a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley. He currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, actress Rachel Harker.Brooke M. Haney

Interview with Rick Lombardo, Artistic Director of San Jose Repertory Theatre, 10 March 2010

Education

Lombardo attended and graduated

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

with a BS in Psychology and minor in theatre, and earned the MFA in Directing from the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

School for the Arts.Kenneth Jones, Playbil

"Boston Director Lombardo Named San Jose Rep's Artistic Director"

Life and career

Upon graduation Lombardo was named co-director ad interim of the theatre program at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

's College at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

from 1991 to 1992, where he also taught as an assistant professor of acting and directing for four years. During this time Lombardo also became the founding artistic director of Stillwater Theater Company in New York City, and later as artistic director of The Players Guild in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

.Steven Winn

"Rick Lombardo to head San Jose Rep" In 1997 Lombardo became the

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of New Repertory Theater, then located in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

. Over the next 12 years Lombardo would be credited with bringing in a younger audienceLouise Kennedy, The Boston Glob

"The House Lombardo Built - and Left Behind" and leading the company to a larger and more profitable theatrical venue in the

Arsenal Center for the Arts The Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts (formerly Arsenal Center for the Arts) is a nonprofit multidisciplinary arts venue on the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts, United States. The 30,000 square foot center, located in an hi ...

where the company currently resides. Lombardo left New Rep after the 2008–09 season to helm

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

after a national search was conducted to replace outgoing Artistic Director Timothy Near. In 2013 Lombardo assumed the role of Producing Artistic Director of the company after a vote by the board of trustees to change the leadership model from a dual CEO structure to a single CEO model.Broadway World News

"Rick Lombardo Assumes New Role of Producing Artistic Director for San Jose Rep", 01 November 2013San Jose Mercury News, Karen D'Souz
/
"San Jose Repertory eases cash crunch with donation drive", 01 November 2013 In June 2014, the San Jose Repertory Theatre board of trustees informed Mr. Lombardo that they had voted to close the theater as he was in rehearsal for American Premiere of "Landscape With Weapon" by

Joe Penhall Joe Scott Penhall (born 1967) is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play ''Blue/Orange'', the award-winning West End musical ''Sunny Afternoon'' and creating the Netflix original series '' ...

. About the closing, Lombardo had this to say: In July 2014 Lombardo began production of his original musical (co-written with Kirsten Brandt, and Haddon Kime) “The Snow Queen: A New Musical” for The

New York Musical Theatre Festival The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual three-week summer festival that operated from 2004 to 2019. It presented more than 30 new musicals a year in New York City's midtown theater district. More than half were chosen by leading theate ...

. This production won both a favorable review from

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

as well as an award for Best Overall Design which Lombardo shared with David Cuthbert (lighting and projection designer), Frances Nelson McSherry (costume designer), and Haddon Kime (co-sound designer.) In April 2015 Lombardo accepted an offer to become chair of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was fou ...

in Kennesaw, Georgia. While at Kennesaw State University Lombardo led the initiative to create a summer professional Shakespeare company called Shakespeare Kennesaw, In June 2018 Lombardo accepted a position as the director of the School of Theatre at

, and the artistic director of Penn State Center Stage, a professional arm of the Penn State School of Theatre which serves as a training program for emerging theatre professionals.

Selected works directed

* ''

The Snow Queen "The Snow Queen" ( da, Snedronningen) is an original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in '' New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection'' (''Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samli ...

'' – adapted from the fairy tale by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

, book and lyrics by Rick Lombardo & Kirsten Brandt, music and lyrics by Haddon Kime, San Jose Rep, San Jose, California (December 2013) * "

Dessa Rose (musical) ''Dessa Rose'' is a musical based on the novel of the same name by Sherley Anne Williams with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. It tells the story of a young black woman and a young white woman and their journey to a ...

" – adapted from the book by

Sherley Anne Williams Sherley Anne Williams (August 25, 1944 – July 6, 1999) was an American poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, jazz poet, playwright and social critic. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the African-American community. Biography ...

, book and lyrics by

Lynn Ahrens Lynn Ahrens (born October 1, 1948) is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Awa ...

and music by

Stephen Flaherty Stephen Flaherty (born September 18, 1960) is an American composer of musical theatre and film. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/book writer Lynn Ahrens. They are best known for writing the Broadway musicals ''Ragtime'', whi ...

, New Repertory Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts (March 2008) * " Bill W. and Dr. Bob" by Stephen Bergman and Janet Surrey,

New World Stages New World Stages is a five-theater, Off-Broadway performing arts complex in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is between 49th and 50th Streets beneath the plaza of the Worldwide Plaza complex at Eighth Avenue. ...

, New York, New York (February 2007)

Awards

2009 Eliott Norton Award for Sustained ExcellenceNew Rep Websit

"New Rep Awards"

References

External links

* *
The Snow Queen: A New Musical
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lombardo, Rick 1959 births Living people American theatre directors American musical theatre directors Georgetown University alumni Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni