Ridge Theater
Ridge Theater is one of America’s pioneer creators of multimedia theater, opera, and new-music performance. Our productions are epic visual and aural works that redefine traditional theatrical boundaries by positioning performers within film and video projections. Dramatic staging by director Bob McGrath, haunting film works and projections by filmmaker Bill Morrison, and lush visual stylings by artist Laurie Olinder are all hallmarks of the Ridge Theater style.
The NY Times writes “…ingeniously simulates vertiginous motion with slides and video projections….“
The New Yorker says “…it’s the joy of surviving what looks and sounds like the end of the world.“
The Chicago Tribune describes our work as “Hallucinatory, oddly beautiful, and disturbing. They conjure up a dreamlike world, in which the actors seem to float.”
The LA Times calls us “…a modern opera A-team. Ridge Theater’s creative powerhouse—director Bob McGrath, video artist Bill Morrison and projection artist Laurie Olinder—are bringing Lang and Dion’s vision to the stage.”
Ridge Theater and our collaborators have received numerous awards including multiple OBIEs, NY Dance & Performance BESSIE awards and an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Design in the Theater. We have been awarded fellowships from The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and The Guggenheim Foundation. Five films from Ridge productions are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Ridge Theater People
Bob McGrath
DIRECTOR
Co-Founder and Director of Ridge Theater, Mr. McGrath has directed at venues including BAM, LA Opera, Lincoln Center, American Repertory Theater, Carnegie Hall, Verizon Hall Philadelphia, Krannert Center, Vineyard Theater, St. Ann’s Warehouse, La MaMa E.T.C. and The Kitchen. Venues abroad include Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Muziekebow (Amsterdam), and De Singel (Antwerp). Bob has collaborated with John Adams, Gavin Bryars, Joseph Budenholzer, Mark Dion, Ben Katchor, Philip Glass, Michael Gordon, Neil LaBute, David Lang, Warren Leight, Ben Neill, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Rachel J. Peters, Susan Sontag, Robert Spano, DJ Spooky, Mac Wellman, Richard Wesley, and Julia Wolfe. He has taught at Virginia Tech (Associate Professor), NYU, Sarah Lawrece College and ECSU. Awards include three OBIE awards for Direction, Best Production and Sustained Achievement.
Laurie Olinder
Projection and Set Designer
Multi-media designer, painter and photographer, Ms. Olinder has been awarded an Obie Award, a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award and an Eliot Norton Award for Outstanding Design in the Theater. Laurie has designed projections for many contemporary composers and performers including John Adams, The Brooklyn Youth Chorus, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, Gavin Bryars, Bryce Dressner, Philip Glass, Michael Gordon, Henryk Gorecki, The Kronos Quartet, David Lang and Julia Wolfe. Her work has been shown at noted performance venues including American Repertory Theater, BAM, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and MASS MoCA.
Bill Morrison
Filmmaker
Filmmaker Bill Morrison has screened films at festivals, museums and concert halls worldwide, including Sundance Film Festival, Tate Modern, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Museum of Modern Art has acquired eight of his titles. Mr. Morrison has been commissioned to create films for some of the most important composers of our time, including John Adams, Gavin Bryars, Bill Frisell, Michael Gordon, Henryk Gorecki, David Lang, Harry Partch, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe. Bill is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received the Alpert Award. His work with Ridge Theater has been recognized with two Bessie awards and an Obie Award. Decasia, his feature length collaboration with composer Michael Gordon, is described by J. Hoberman of the Village Voice as “the most widely acclaimed American avant-garde film of the fin-de-siècle.”
Funders
Some of our thoughtful funders include: Creative Capital, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art, Greenwall Foundation, The MAP Fund, NEA, New York Foundation for the Arts, NYSCA, Peg Santvoord Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation
Individual Donors
Individual donors have helped us throughout the years, we thank you all!
Some of our individual donors are: Catherine Amandalara, Diane Alington, Habib Azar, Alice Bernstien, Stefanie Brauner, Don Campbell, Christin Couture, Paul Craig, Jack Crouch, Conrad Cummings, Jay Derrah, Jonathan Easton, Larry Fessenden, Rick Hamlin, Carl Hammer, Phil Hartman, Lynn Landis, Warren Leight, Walker MacWilliam, William R. McAlpin, Michael Montes, Mark Napoletano, Fredrica Owen, Paul Rodriguez, Daryl Roth, Judy Saslow, Barbara Sauermann, Betty Sikov, Ed Sikov, Barbara & Jason Spender, Julia Stiles, Wendy Thaxter, Jeff and Christine Tomlinson, Beck Underwood, Paul Vershbow, Kaye Voyce, Carla Weisberg, Mac Wellman, Anonymous Donor
Press
The New York Times reviews Anatomy Theater, Los Angeles Times reviews Anatomy Theater, The Wall Street Journal reviews Anatomy Theater, New Music USA reviews Anatomy Theater, The Philadelphia Inquirer reviews Rite Of Spring, Variety reviews Persephone, The New Yorker reviews Decasia, The New York Times reviews Decasia, The New York Times reviews The Slug Bearers Of Kayrol Island, The New York Times reviews Lightning At Our Feet, The New York Times reviews Górecki, The New Yorker reviews Harry Partch’s ‘Oedipus’, The New York Times reviews Jennie Richee, The New York Times reviews The Death Of Klinghoffer, The New York Times reviews Chaos
Collaborators
John Adams, Composer; Jason Amato, Lighting Designer; John Ambrosone, Lighting Designer; American Composers Orchestra, Ensemble; Dylan Amick, Projection Designer/Filmmaker; Ryland Angel, Performer; Deborah Artman, Librettist; Bang on a Can, Ensemble; Basel Sinfonietta, Ensemble; Timur Bekbosunov, Performer; Lisa Bielawa, Performer; Theo Bleckmann, Performer; Oren Bloedow, Composer; Tony Bout, Performer; Brooklyn Philharmonic, Ensemble; Linda Brumbach, Consultant; Robert Brustein, Producer; Joseph Budenholzer, Composer/Writer; Don Campbell, Dramaturgy/Video;Jennifer Charles, Performer; Hai-Ting Chinn, Performer; Conrad Cummings, Composer; Hope Davis, Performer; Mark Dion, Artist; John Dossett, Performer; Toni Dove, Visual Artist; Alixa Gage Englund, Costume Designer; Jim Farmer, Composer; Jim Findlay, Set Designer; Matt Frey, Lighting Designer; Katie Geisinger, Performer; Emmitt George, Performer; Mimi Goese, Performer; Jordan Goldston, Performer; Alice Goodman, Librettist; Michael Gordon, Composer; Sean Haberle, Performer; Simon Harding, Video; Daniel Harnett, Performer; Michael Harris, Performer; Cynthia Hopkins, Performer; International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble; Alan Johnson, Conductor; Ben Katchor, Writer/Artist; Anna Kichtchenko, Performer; Marc Kudisch, Performer; Christopher Kuhl, Lighting Designer; Neil LaBute, Writer; David Lang, Composer; LA Opera, Ensemble; Jasmine Lawrence, Performer; Warren Leight, Writer; Pilar Limosner, Costume Designer; Jennie Liu, Performer; Maren Weinberger Maddry, Performer; Robert A. McAlpin, Consultant; Joseph V. Melillo, Producer; Kate Moran, Performer; Kristen Morgan, Designer; Thomas Morris, Writer/Performer; Beth Morrison, Producer; Jackie Mullen,, Stage Manager; MusikFabrik, Ensemble; Ben Neill, Composer; Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Conductor; Ani Taj Niemann, Performer; Deb O, Costume Designer; Jack O’Connor, Producer; Robert Osborne, Performer; Hunter Parker, Producer; David Parsons, Choreographer; Rachel J. Peters, Composer; Ruth Pongstaphone, Designer; Paul Rodriguez, Performer/Designer/Web Developer; Richard Rountree, Conductor; Mark Russel, Producer; Dan Safer, Choreographer; Jay O. Sanders, Performer; Tim Schellenbaum, Sound Designer; Ann Shea, Performer; Steven Sloane, Conductor; Susan Sontag, Playwright; Peabody Southwell, Performer; Robert Spano, Conductor; Jane Alois Stein, Costume Designer; Ellen Stewart, Producer; Julia Stiles, Performer; Jeff Sugg, Designer; Austin Switser, Designer; Howard S. Thies, Lighting Designer; Natalie Thomas, Performer; Matthew Tierney, Musical Director; Fred Tietz, Set Designer/Performer; Kate Tombaugh, Performer; Gwendolyn Toth, Keyboards; Dave Turley, Performer; Toby Twining, Performer; Trio Medieval, Ensemble; Kaye Voyce, Costume Designer; Mac Wellman, Playwright; Richard Wesley, Playwright; Michael Wilde, Performer; wild Up, Ensemble; Michael Anthony Williams, Performer; Julia Wolfe, Composer; Megan Wyler, Performer; Daniel Zippi, Dramaturge/Performer/Producer
Venues
American Repertory Theater, Cambridge Massachusetts, BRIC, Brooklyn, New York, BAM — Brooklyn Academy of Music, Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn, New York, Carnegie Hall — Zankel Hall, New York City, Cite de la Musique, Paris, France, De Singel, Antwerp, Belgium, European Music Month, Funkhaus Wallrafplatz, Klaus von Bismarck Saal, Cologne, Germany, The Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany, Kimmel Center-Verizon Hall — with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Kitchen, New York City, La Mama ETC, New York City, Krannert Center, Urbana, Illinois, LA Opera, Los Angeles, California, Lincoln Center, New York City, Mass MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Teatro Oi Casagrande, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Philharmonie Essen — Alfried Krupp Saal, Essen, Germany, PS 122, New York City, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, England, REDCAT, Los Angeles, California, MITO Settembre Musica, Milan, Italy, Soho Rep, New York City, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn, New York, Vineyard Theater, New York City
Photo Credits
Luis Bañuelos, Craig Blankenhorn, James Matthew Daniel, Richard Feldman, Joan Grossman, Kevin Kennefick, Bill Morrison, William Murray, Laurie Olinder, Mike Peters, Bettina Stammen, Willamain Somma, Richard Termine