Rudy Ramirez

Rudy Ramirez (they/them) is a director, writer and performer focused on the development of new work. They are an Associate Artistic Director of The VORTEX in Austin, TX and have directed for numerous companies around the country, including Contemporary American Theater Festival, The Lark, Latino Theater Company, Lexington Children's Theater, Moonbox Productions, National Queer Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Octopus Theatricals, The Playwrights’ Center, The San Antonio Public Theatre, Shrewd Productions, Signature Theatre, Sky Candy Aerial Arts, Southwestern University, Strange Sun Theatre, Teatro Audaz, Teatro Vivo, and the University of Texas at Austin. They are a Board Member of the National New Play Network.

Rudy was named Best Director by the Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll in...

Rudy Ramirez (they/them) is a director, writer and performer focused on the development of new work. They are an Associate Artistic Director of The VORTEX in Austin, TX and have directed for numerous companies around the country, including Contemporary American Theater Festival, The Lark, Latino Theater Company, Lexington Children's Theater, Moonbox Productions, National Queer Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Octopus Theatricals, The Playwrights’ Center, The San Antonio Public Theatre, Shrewd Productions, Signature Theatre, Sky Candy Aerial Arts, Southwestern University, Strange Sun Theatre, Teatro Audaz, Teatro Vivo, and the University of Texas at Austin. They are a Board Member of the National New Play Network.

Rudy was named Best Director by the Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll in 2017. In Austin, they have won 8 B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Direction and the 2019 Austin Critics Table Award for Excellence in Directing. They have also won B. Iden Payne Awards for Original Score and Ensemble Performance. Nationally, they have been finalists for the NNPN Directors Fellowship and the TCG Alan Schneider Award.

Rudy has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA in Directing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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  • EUROPA is a riveting piece: my body felt so engaged with what was happening in the reading alone that it took me doing some stretches to get it back together. Each of the characters earns the love of the audience as they struggle to connect through the aftermath of a horrific experience. You want, so badly, to take this away from them so that they can have their friendships without this burden, but the play doesn't let you forget the depth of the consequences. I have rapidly become obsessed with this piece.

    EUROPA is a riveting piece: my body felt so engaged with what was happening in the reading alone that it took me doing some stretches to get it back together. Each of the characters earns the love of the audience as they struggle to connect through the aftermath of a horrific experience. You want, so badly, to take this away from them so that they can have their friendships without this burden, but the play doesn't let you forget the depth of the consequences. I have rapidly become obsessed with this piece.

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    At the heart of this funny, sexy, warm and poignant story is the transformation required to heal, the ways that art and love both teach us to turn our memories into something portable, so that we can survive letting go. ALABASTER lays this out with wit, style and a talking goat. I cannot wait for the chance to work on this beautiful piece.

    At the heart of this funny, sexy, warm and poignant story is the transformation required to heal, the ways that art and love both teach us to turn our memories into something portable, so that we can survive letting go. ALABASTER lays this out with wit, style and a talking goat. I cannot wait for the chance to work on this beautiful piece.

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    I've been thinking about AMERIKIN frequently since the release of the latest report on Russian interference in the US election. Totalitarian propaganda is designed not to further a particular agenda, but to divide us, to keep us from trusting one another, to erode our faith in our nation's capacity to work together. AMERIKIN is not about Russian interference, but it is about the tremendous difficulty and danger of communicating across racial, economic and political lines with rigor and compassion. Hutchinson's story is anything but easy, equal parts welcoming and shocking, and absolutely...

    I've been thinking about AMERIKIN frequently since the release of the latest report on Russian interference in the US election. Totalitarian propaganda is designed not to further a particular agenda, but to divide us, to keep us from trusting one another, to erode our faith in our nation's capacity to work together. AMERIKIN is not about Russian interference, but it is about the tremendous difficulty and danger of communicating across racial, economic and political lines with rigor and compassion. Hutchinson's story is anything but easy, equal parts welcoming and shocking, and absolutely necessary.

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  • This play is dark, delicious and a fight choreographer's dream. The conflicts have a fun, cartoonish wildness that reminds me of Tarantino, only with a far more complicated and nuanced examination of race and the long term effects of trauma across generations.

    This play is dark, delicious and a fight choreographer's dream. The conflicts have a fun, cartoonish wildness that reminds me of Tarantino, only with a far more complicated and nuanced examination of race and the long term effects of trauma across generations.

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    If you grew up loving movies like Labyrinth and The Never-Ending Story, if you love the work of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, if you want a play that's complex enough to give your high schoolers great roles to chew on while being funny and fantastical enough for their friends to want to come see it more than once, you've come to the right place. Changelings has rich leads, great comedic showcase roles, and opportunities for rich design and even puppetry. The students who first got to act this play adored it, as did faculty, family and friends.

    If you grew up loving movies like Labyrinth and The Never-Ending Story, if you love the work of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, if you want a play that's complex enough to give your high schoolers great roles to chew on while being funny and fantastical enough for their friends to want to come see it more than once, you've come to the right place. Changelings has rich leads, great comedic showcase roles, and opportunities for rich design and even puppetry. The students who first got to act this play adored it, as did faculty, family and friends.

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