Shakespeare in Performance: Person

Richard Risso

RICHARD RISSO, Riverside, California, returns for his eleventh Festival season. He is in his seventh year as a Festival Director. As an acting company member for four previous seasons, he appeared in such roles as Julius Caesar, King Henry V, Aufidius in Coriolanus, and Hamlet. Dr. Risso has directed Festival productions of King John, Richard II, Henry IV, Pan One, Macbeth, Othello, and The Taming of the Shrew. Festival audiences also remember him for his roles as Richard of Gloucester in Henry the Sixth, Part Three and as last seasons Richard III. He received his M.F.A. at Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he held the RCA Fellowship, and his Ph.D. at Stanford. As a Fulbright scholar in 1959, Dr. Risso studied for a year at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique in Paris. He has acted and directed with the Erie Playhouse and has appeared in stock at the William Penn Playhouse, Lake Whalom Playhouse, and the Red Barn Playhouse. This past season, he directed Euripides Medea at the University of California at Riverside, where he serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama.

contributor information not available — Added 2008-11-14

RICHARD D. RISSO is in his third season as Assistant Producing Director and sixth as a Festival Director. In four previous seasons with the acting company, he appeared in such roles as Caesar, King Henry V, Aufidius in Coriolanus, and Hamlet. At San Jose State College, where he received his B.A. degree, Dr. Risso was seen as the lead in Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Clonus, and was seen as Angelo in Measure for Measure at Stanford University. He received his M.F.A. at Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he held the RCA Fellowship, and his Ph.D. at Stanford. As a Fulbright scholar in 1959, Dr. Risso studied for a year at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique in Paris. With the Oregon Shakespearean Festival Dr. Risso has directed King John, Richard II, Henry IV, Part One, Macbeth and last season Othello. For two years he acted and directed with the Erie Playhouse, and has appeared in stock at the William Penn Playhouse, Lake Whalom Playhouse, and the Red Barn Playhouse. Dr. Risso is presently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama at the University of California at Riverside.

contributor information not available — Added 2008-11-14

Richard Risso of Palo Alto, Calif., a Festival scholarship holder, joins the Festival for the first time this season. In his second year at San Jose State College as a Drama major. Rick has had the interesting experience of playing lago in Othello, Joe in the modern Golden Boy and Jean in the existentialist Nights of Wrath in one season. In addition he has worked with the Palo Alto Community Theatre.

contributor information not available — Added 2008-11-14

RICHARD D. RISSO, Director of King John, returns to the Festival in his first staff position. A three-season veteran of the acting company here, he has created such roles as Henry V, Ferdinand in The Tempest, Tullus Aufidius in Coriolanus, Master Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Fortinbras in Hamlet. He has just completed his graduate work for an M.F.A. at Carnegie Institute of Technology where he held the RCA Fellowship. Mr. Risso spent two years as actor-director with the Erie Playhouse in Pennsylvania and has also performed in stock with the William Penn Playhouse, Pa., the Lake Whalom Playhouse, Mass., and the Red Barn Playhouse, Mass. On KPIX television in San Francisco he played the title role in The Life of Percy Shelley, This September he leaves for Paris to study at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts on a Fulbright scholarship.

contributor information not available — Added 2008-11-14

RICHARD D. RISSO is in his fourth year as Festival Director and first as Assistant Producing Director. In four seasons with the acting company, he appeared in such roles as Henry V, Aufidius in Coriolanus, and Hamlet. At San Jose State, Mr. Risso was seen as the lead in Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus; and as Angelo in Measure for Measure at Stanford. He received his B.A. from San Jose State, M.F.A. from Carnegie Institute of Technology where he held the RCA Fellowship, and Ph.D. from Stanford. As a Fulbright scholar in 1959, Mr. Risso spent a year of study at the Conservatoire dArt Dramatique in Paris. With the Oregon Shakespearean Festival he has directed King John, Richard II, and Henry IV, Part I. For two years Mr. Risso acted and directed with the Erie Playhouse, and has appeared in stock at the William Penn Playhouse, the Lake Whalom Playhouse, and the Red Barn Playhouse. At present Mr. Risso is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama for the University of California at Riverside.

contributor information not available — Added 2008-11-14