Thomas P. Riccio

Thomas P. Riccio is a US multimedia artist and academic. He received his BA from Cleveland State University in English Literature (1978), his MFA from Boston University [http://www.bu.edu/] (1982), and studied in the PhD program in Performance Studies at New York University (1983-84). Riccio has directed nearly one hundred plays.

Career

* 1988-2003: Professor of Theatre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Artistic Director of Tuma Theater, an Inuit theatre group:* Visiting Professor at the Korean National University for the Arts (1996):* Visiting Professor in drama therapy at The California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco (1997 and 1998):* Visiting Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam (1999)
* 2003-present: Professor of Performance Studies and Art and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas
* 2006-present: Works with David Hanson at Hanson Robotics as Lead Narrative Engineer

Notable works

* 2003: Published the book "Reinventing Traditional Alaska Native Performance" [cite book|title=Reinventing Traditional Alaska Native Performance|author=Thomas Riccio|publisher=Edwin Mellen|date=March 2003|isbn=978-0773469877]
* 2004: Initiated the "Story Lab"
* 2004: "Kartasi", a new media performance work
* 2006: "Alpha Male", a cyberpunk paranoia new media performance work
* 2006: "There is Never a Reference Point", a performance work about a person with multiple personality disorder [ [http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/New_Story_1.4db6a211.html "There is never a reference point" review] at GuideLive.com, February 2006]
* 2006: "Inuit", a play awarded the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation Distinction Prize in Playwrighting [ [http://www.onassis.gr/english/competition_prizes/2006.php Onassis Foundation prize announcement] , October 2006]
* 2007: Participated in the creation of Einstein, a life-like conversational robot, which was on display at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum NYC (12/2006 to 05/2007)
* 2007: Published the book "Performing Africa: Remixing Culture, Theatre and Tradition" [cite book|title=Performing Africa: Remixing Culture, Theatre and Tradition|author=Thomas Riccio|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing|date=2007-04-30|isbn=978-0820488998]

Breathless prose

THOMAS P. RICCIO is a post-disciplinary artist-scholar who has written plays, created performance installations, choreographed and directed for the stage and video. Trained in theatre, his work has since evolved from traditional western cultural conceptions of performance into a lifelong investigation of indigenous, place-based and site-specific expressions. After fifteen years of working extensively in the area of indigenous performance and ritual, as both an artist and scholar, Riccio felt it was time to bring what he has gained from the world’s performance traditions to his own culture. To this end he accepted the position of Professor of Performance Studies and Art and Technology at the "University of Texas at Dallas" in 2002 (a position he currently holds). [http://www.utdallas.edu] In 2004 he initiated the Story Lab, a program to develop post-disciplinary performance expressions. His work with the Story Lab seeks to link his place-based work with new media expressions. In this pursuit, since spring of 2006, he has also worked as the Lead Narrative Engineer for "Hanson Robotics, Inc.", [http://hansonrobotics.com/] serving as chief scriptwriter and personality designer for some of the world’s most advanced conversational robots and is at the forefront of exploring and expanding the frontiers of performance and communication through technology. Robot personalities he has worked on include Einstein, a life-like conversational robot, which was on display at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum NYC (12/2006 to 05/2007); Jules, presented at Wired Magazine’s NextFest, NYC (09/2006); Joey Chaos, a cyber-punk robot presented at RoboWorld, Boston (05/2007), Zeno, presented at NextFest, Los Angeles [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q88FK37Q8jU] (09/2007, and Swami, to be presented (10/2007). In addition to his robot personality work he has worked with a Hanson Robotics team of writers to develop film scripts, scenarios, and back-story for RoboKind, the future world of Zeno. The ambition of the scenario and back-story building is to be able to cross platform RoboKind in game and/or Second Life world environments. His performance work for Hanson has included providing the facial expressions for Zeno and Swami through Motion Picture Capture technology.

While at the "University of Texas at Dallas", under the auspices of Story Lab, in association with the Institute for Interactive Arts and Engineering, [http://iiae.utdallas.edu/] Riccio has written, produced, and directed three new media performance works that explore the concept of performance immersion. In the fall of 2004 he presented Kartasi, a story of a future world where stories are all that remain of earth’s civilization. Using pop heroic sci-fi styles, the production included the extensive use of on stage interactive animation, and on line web referencing. During the fall of 2006 Riccio wrote and directed "Alpha Male", a cyber-punk paranoia. Set in the not so future world and inspired by socialization experiments with rats conducted in the 1950s, the performance created a totally mediated environment, whereby the performance (and often the audience) was observed, the reality directed and manipulated by the use of ten surveillance cameras which projected a blend of live and recorded actions, creating a multiple, hyper alternative reality to the one presented live. Most notable among Riccio’s Story Lab presentations at UTD has been There is Never a Reference Point, (spring 2006) http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/New_Story_1.4db6a211.html a walk through performance immersion based on the words and life of Jamie Dakis, a woman diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. In this performance, individual performers presented each of the personalities, with each of their environments designed by local visual artist. Audiences were invited into a non-traditional performance space (a former warehouse) where they vicariously entered and participated in the consciousness of Jamie. The presentation was augmented by sound and video loops, which elaborated on the history of each personality—looping is symptomatic of the condition. The totality of the presented created a prototype for future performance immersions and brought Riccio’s closer to understanding performance as collective and embodied intelligence conveyed through multiple and simultaneous channels. An additional level to the performance was added with the presence and interaction of Jamie herself.

In addition to his interest in performance immersion at UTD, Riccio is currently developing (writer, director, producer) two experimental video projects—one, Some People, (spring 2008) in conjunction with Project X, [http://www.projectxtheatre.com/] a local post-disciplinary performance collective. The other, Regina, will be web-based, presented live and in installments on line, simultaneously projected the large wall outside of Riccio’s home. Lawn chairs will be provided for the nightly and unfolding performance events occurring inside the house.

Though often working in non-traditional ways, Riccio’s work occasionally finds expression in more traditional formats. "The Alexander S. Onassis Foundation" awarded Riccio a Distinction Prize in Playwrighting his play Inuit (fall 2006) --the award for this internationally competitive prize was 15,000 Euro. The play was based on his research and was informed by his work with Alaska Native and Inuit cultures. [http://www.onassis.gr/english/competition_prizes/2006.php]

His scholarship has also been recently recognized. His book, "Performing Africa: Remixing Culture, Theatre and Tradition", was published by Peter Lang in the spring of 2007. The book is a collection of his essays relating to his performance work in Africa (1992-2002). [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0820488992]

A committed educator, Riccio has, since coming to UTD in 2003, developed several classes reflecting his research and performance experiences and interests. These courses include: Acting for Animators, Performance Studies, Ritual and Shamanism, Experimentation and Adaptation, New Media Installation, Video Narrative, and Robot Culture. Riccio has recently completed a book of his travel stories, Village in the Sky, which is a personal documentation of his work and travels in Alaska, Siberia, Asia, Russia, and Africa. A source book documenting his performance development techniques, exercises and strategies is nearing completion. He is an artistic associate of Project X a Dallas based performance collective, and in 2005 directed, produced and performed in Dada DMA, a series of hour long performances adapted from the writings and actions of the Dada movement and presented at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Prior to his work in Dallas and at the University of Texas, Riccio held several professional positions. They include Professor of Theatre at the "University of Alaska Fairbanks" (1988-2003). [http://www.uaf.edu/]

While at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he also served as Artistic Director of Tuma Theater, an Alaska Native Performance Group. In that capacity he conducted extensive research (in the field, oral history and archival) as to prepare him for developing and directing seven ensemble-evolved performances, which were consistent with the Alaska Native performance vernacular and worldview. His work with Tuma was transformative, introducing him into another worldview, and forcing him to re-evaluate his process, approach, and objectives as a performance artist. Rather than adopt western dramaturgical expectations and expressions wholesale (and imposing another sort of colonization), Riccio sought to define the performance language and working methods of the culture he was working within—therein lay the key to organically evolving performance indigenous to a place. His research and performance work in Alaska was documented in a book published in 2003 by Mellen Press, Reinventing Traditional Alaska Native Performance http://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Traditional-Performance-Studies-Theatre/dp/0773469877

Articles relating to his Alaska Native performance research appeared in "Theater Topics" (1991), TDR (1993) and the "Northwest Drama Review" (1999). [http://www.cwu.edu/~nwdc/nwdc/journal_archives.htm]

While at the University of Alaska, Riccio was recognized with an Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Liberal Arts (2001), and was the recipient of numerous awards, research and travel grants. Among them: Artist In Residence, Institute of Arctic Biology, Toolik International Science Research Station, Brooks Range, Alaska, Summer, 2003; Career Opportunity Grant, Alaska State Council on The Arts, to conduct workshops in Kenya and Tanzania, fall, 1999; Career Opportunity Grant, Alaska State Council on the Arts, to conduct workshops in England, August, 1997; University of Alaska Museum Service Award, Fairbanks, for service to the museum, May 1996; Career Opportunity Grant, Alaska State Council on the Arts, to attend rehearsals of his play in Germany and conduct workshops/lectures in Sweden. August, 1995; Alaska State Council on The Arts Travel Grant, to Natal, South Africa to develop an indigenous theatre program at the Univ. of Zululand, Summer 1993; Dancing Bear Award presented by the Doyon Native Corp. (Athabaskan Indian), Fairbanks, an award in recognition of work with Tuma Theatre and Alaska Native Performance. Spring, 1993; Travel to Collections Grant, National Endowment for The Humanities, travel to conduct research at the Jesup Collection, Museum of Natural History, NYC, August, 1992; Mellon Foundation Cross-Cultural Faculty Development Grant, to conduct oral history research in numerous Alaskan Eskimo and Indian villages, Autumn, 1992; Mellon Foundation Travel Grant, to conduct Alaska Native Performance workshops at Perseverance Theatre, Juneau, November, 1992; Alaskan Native Studies Travel Grant, University Alaska Fairbanks to travel to numerous Alaska Native villages to study Yup'ik, Siberian Yup'ik, King Island, & Inupiat Eskimo performance tradition 1989 to 1991; Mellon Foundation Travel Grant, for travel to Seattle for museum research and conference attendance July-August, 1991; National Endowment For The Humanities, Summer Institute, “Myth, Memory & History: Sources For Writing American Indian History”. Newberry Library, Chicago. Six-week Summer Institute, 1990. While at the University of Alaska, Riccio worked with the University Museum (now the Museum of the North) and the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, and was the writer - director - choreographer - designer - producer of Northern Inua, a demonstration performance of traditional Alaska Native Games and culture. Summers 1989-1992 and 1995-2003.

His work with Alaska Native people enabled Riccio to develop a methodology for creating cultural and place based performance, which resulted in invitations to work with a number of indigenous groups worldwide. In the spring of 1992 he was invited to develop and direct at the Natal Performing Arts Council in Durban, South Africa. The resulting performance of Emandulo, a work inspired by a Zulu myth, was the first presentation of a performance by Zulu performers produced by a national theatre. Theatre Research International published his article account of the process and experience of making Emandulo in a rapidly transforming South Africa (1994). After Durban, Riccio worked with Tùkak' Teatret, a Greenland Inuit group in Fjaltring, Denmark (early summer 1992), conducting workshops and choreography for two productions. The Greenland Inuit, having borne the brunt of early colonization, lost most of their traditional dance. Riccio, versed in Alaska Native dance, became their instructor of native dance. From Denmark, Riccio went to St. Petersburg, Russia to work with Metamorphosis Theatre, a group dedicated to pre-Christian and Slavic ritual (mid to late summer 1992). For this group he developed and directed Shadows From the Planet Fire, a ritual performance that premiered in St. Petersburg, was presented on Russian State television, later touring the Ural Mountain region and the Ukraine. He returned to Denmark to work with Springs, a performance group comprised of Tamil refugees, developing and directing a workshop production, King Harichandra (based on a Hindu legend) in the late summer and early fall of 1992.

From May 1993 through August 1994, Riccio took a leave of absence from the University of Alaska in response to invitations to create and direct indigenous performance projects. In the summer of 1993 he was artist-in-residence at the Sakha National Theater (central Siberia) where for three months he conducted field research with shamans and elders, then workshops in preparation to develop and direct Sardaana (August 1993). The production inspired by a Sakha myth and applying traditional performance expressions, ran in repertory for two years and is now a part of that company’s permanent repertory. Riccio was honored as a “Cultural Hero of the Sakha People” (1993) for his work to re-invent and re-vitalize Sakha traditional performance. After Siberia Riccio returned to Durban, South Africa, where he was commissioned to develop and direct a touring performance to address current political necessity by the Kwasa Group, an outgrowth of the Natal Performing Arts Council. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=10542043(199624)40%3A4%3C94%3APSAZOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y]

The Zulu, having been just given the right to vote, had to be educated to the mechanics and responsibility of a participatory democracy. Feeling the need to present a white man as a buffoon, as to disabuse the recently post-apartheid Zulu of whites as power figures, Riccio included himself in the performance. The performance, Makanda Mahlanu, was inspired by a Zulu myth, and toured throughout Zululand and Natal Province (November- December 1993). The performance was presented in union halls, outside clinics and country stores, at schools, on soccer fields, markets, bus stations, among other venues. TDR published his article account of the experience, along with an interview, in 1996.

Riccio then traveled to Lusaka, Zambia where he conduced the first ever nation wide workshop for performance—which included traditional and tribal performers, mask dancers, and community theatre performers. The two-week workshop evolved into development rehearsals and the production of Imipashi (the spirits), known as the Litooma Project. The performance was Zambia’s first nation-wide and inter-tribal performance—which is significant in often ethnically divisive Africa. The performance, which premiered and was performed in Lusaka and later toured the country (1994) was presented in a variety of outdoor venues, including bus stations, markets, and soccer stadiums—often audiences numbered in the thousands. Riccio wrote an article account of the production and process, which was published by TheatreForum in 1997. [http://www-theatre.ucsd.edu/TF/]

His workshop, rehearsal and production work in Zambia was sponsored by the Finish Volunteer Service and funded by a consortium of regional and international funders, they include: USIS Special Projects Award, United States Information Service, for salary and housing support, March, 1994; The Republic of Zambia Arts Award, Department of Culture, to support theatre workshops with Zambian tribal groups, March, 1994; The British Council Artist Award, Lusaka, Zambia, to support the production of Imipashi, April, 1994; NORAD (Norwegian Foreign Aid) to support Imipashi rehearsals and performance, March, 1994; SIDA Project Grant (Swedish Foreign Aid), to support the Zambian national tour of Imipashi, February, 1994; Embassy of The Netherlands Grant, for documentation and tour of Imipashi, April-May 1994; Finnita & The Finish Volunteer Service Project Grant, Lusaka, Zambia, for the general support of the Litooma project, February-May, 1994.

After Zambia and a short tour of Africa, Riccio returned to South Africa to conduct three months of field research and to develop a community-wide healing ritual with the !Xuu and Khwe Bushmen of the lower Kalahari (1994). The !Xuu and Khwe were political refugees, victims of the civil upheavals in Angola and Namibia. The nearly 4000 Bushmen were confined to a refugee camp near the Namibia boarder for four years when Riccio arrived, commissioned to develop a tourist show as to bring tourist to the region and help adapt the Bushmen to a cash economy. What Riccio found was an incredibly rich culture in rapid decline. He convinced his sponsors to transform his original charge into a documentation project. He lived on site and was able to win the confidence of the Bushmen healers and their assistants, which resulted in video and oral history documentation now in residence at South African universities. Riccio coordinated and produced a community-wide healing ritual, lead by the healers, as to bring solace to the community. Riccio’s experiences are documented in an article published by TheatreForum in 1997. Funding for the project was provided by the !Xuu And Khwe Cultural Trust Grant, Kimberly, South Africa, for research and documentation of traditional Bushman healers, May-June, 1994 and by a Northern Cape Association Project Grant, Kimberly, South Africa, to conduct theatre workshops with the !Xuu and Khwe Bushmen, May, 1994.

Riccio has presented workshops and lectures independent of performance projects, at colleges, universities, and theatres throughout the U.S. and Internationally. Most notably, he has conducted workshops and/or lectures in Sweden at the Riksteatern (National Theatre), [http://www.riksteatern.se/templates/Sida.aspx?id=1896] Västanå Teatern, [http://www.vastanateater.se/_vastana/] Dramatiska Institutet, and Shikasta Teatre, (1995), Kleist Theater, Frankfurt, Germany (1995), Finland’s Tampere International Theatre Festival, The Helsinki Institute of Art and Media, (1994, 96, 97), Turku School of Art and Communication, Finland (1997), Word And Action: Round Festival, Dorset, England (1996), Sogang University, Seoul, Korea (1996), City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University (1996), New York University (1997), IDEA 95, International Drama In Education Assoc., Brisbane, Australia (1995), University of Zululand, South Africa (1993), Jisu University, China (2001), and the International Festival of Theatre & Marionettes, Burkina Faso (2000). [http://www.iti-germany.de/cgi-bin/doc.py?id=1063]

He gave lectures and conducted workshops at Jagielonian University and the National Drama School in Krakow, Poland [http://www.amuz.krakow.pl/FP/guests.html] (2003, 2004 and 2005), and at University of Nairobi and National Theatre of Kenya (1999 and 2002 respectively). His research and workshop activity regarding Kenyan puppet theater resulted in an article published by PAJ-Performing Arts Journal (2004) and in the British publication, The Puppet Notebook (2006). [http://www.unima.org.uk/editorial.asp?ia_id=8]

Riccio was a Visiting Professor at the Korean National University for the Arts (1996) where he developed and directed Twelve Moons, a performance inspired by Korean mythology and utilizing the Kamungkuk mask and shamanic traditions. http://www.knua.ac.kr/new2005/eng/about/greeting.asp

He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam (1999) http://www.udsm.ac.tz/ his work and research in that country resulted in the publication of an article in TDR (2001). [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1054-2043(200121)45%3A1%3C128%3ATTFMTT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4] He was also a Visiting Professor in drama therapy at The California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco (1997 and 1998). [http://www.ciis.edu/] Visiting Artist positions include: College of Wooster [http://www.wooster.edu/] (2001), Smith, and Mount Holyoke College (1997), and the Massachusetts College of Art (1984). He received an APPEX (Asian Pacific Performance Exchange) Fellowship at the UCLA Center for World Cultures (six weeks, Summer 1999) to study and create with Asian performance artists. [http://www.wac.ucla.edu/cip/appexbook/dancingasianness.html]

Besides his indigenous and place specific performance work, Riccio has written and adapted several plays for the stage. His play Comeback Für Elvis was produced by Frankfurt’s Kleist Theatre and ran in repertory (1995-96). For the Fairbanks Drama Association he wrote and directed a highly acclaimed production of Pipe Dreams, a play based on oral histories from the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (1997, 99, 2001, 2002). Other notable plays include Rubber City, produced by the Organic Theatre, Chicago, 1985; Little Caesar, a deconstruction of the gangster movie and novel, Organic Theater (1988), Betawulf, a post-apocalyptic-ritual inspired by Beowulf, Cleveland Lab Theatre (1980) and Organic Theatre (1986), and Yahoo Nation, produced by the University of Alaska (2002).

His previous positions include: Artistic Director of Chicago's "Organic Theater Company" [http://www.organictheater.com/organic/] (1985-1988); Dramaturge/Resident Director at the "Cleveland Play House" http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/index.asp (1984-86). While at the Play House he received a Directing Fellowship from ATT (1985) to work with Broadway director Robert Whitehead on Lillian with Zoë Caldwell. He was named, by the Cleveland Critics Circle , as best director in 1982 and 1985 for his work at the Play House. He also served as Associate Literary Director at the American Repertory Theatre http://www.amrep.org/ at Harvard where he was research assistant to Robert Brustein (1980-82). While at ART he was an Assistant Director to John Madden, and Dramaturge for a world premiere production of a play by Carlos Fuentes. As New York City based a free-lance director he staged productions at the Teatro d’ Roma (the National Theatre of Italy, 1984), La Mama ETC http://www.lamama.org/ (1983 and 1984), and The New York Theatre Workshop [http://www.nytw.org/] (1984) where he was selected for a New Director’s Project Award. In 1987 he received the Goethe Institute, Internationales Forum Junger Buhnenangehorig Fellowship for a, month long intensive voice, movement, and directing workshops in Berlin. In 1988 he received a Theatre Communications Group Observership Award for travel and work with Los Angeles and San Francisco Theatres.

References

External links

* [http://www.thomas-riccio.net/ Thomas Riccio home page]
* [http://ah.utdallas.edu/people/triccio.html Thomas Riccio biography at UT Dallas]