Artistic Statement

My plays and musicals are witty, intellectual social commentary, sophisticated and political but accessible and entertaining, and they often experiment with form. I write about people who are unable to communicate with each other successfully or healthily, and I often cover triangular relationships, cult behavior, abuse, and delusion. I dissect the structures and systems that dictate our lives, like oppression, class, sexuality, and gender, and I explore how we build and exist within them. I am particularly interested in theatricalizing how characters perceive and present reality. I want to challenge audiences’ habitual gazes, by using comedy and levity as tools to distract from the heart of the matter, only to shock with reality near the end. I want my plays to make an audience laugh and then cut them, to cast them as protagonist but also villain. I challenge the lens through which the audience gazes.

Aaron Ricciardi

Artistic Statement

My plays and musicals are witty, intellectual social commentary, sophisticated and political but accessible and entertaining, and they often experiment with form. I write about people who are unable to communicate with each other successfully or healthily, and I often cover triangular relationships, cult behavior, abuse, and delusion. I dissect the structures and systems that dictate our lives, like oppression, class, sexuality, and gender, and I explore how we build and exist within them. I am particularly interested in theatricalizing how characters perceive and present reality. I want to challenge audiences’ habitual gazes, by using comedy and levity as tools to distract from the heart of the matter, only to shock with reality near the end. I want my plays to make an audience laugh and then cut them, to cast them as protagonist but also villain. I challenge the lens through which the audience gazes.