Education:
Ph.D., University of California - Berkeley - 1990 (Dramatic Arts & Directing)
M.A., San Francisco State University - 1978 (Creative Arts Interdisciplinary)
B.A., Beloit College - 1973 (Art & International Relations)
Areas of Expertise:
Helen Richardson is an award-winning director specializing in the ensemble creation of new works, and research in international theater. She trained in maskwork at the Paris-based Théâtre du Soleil and is knowledgeable in various approaches to acting, including those developed by Bertold Brecht, Stanislavsky, Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine, Jerzy Grotowski, Augusto Boal and Anne Bogart. She is a playwright and has also worked as a dramaturg on productions in Europe and the United States.
Books and Publications
Chapter on the actor training methods of Ariane Mnouchkine. Actor Training: An Introduction. Ed. Alison Hodge. Routledge Publishers. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010
Chapter on the theater practices of Ariane Mnouchkine. Ariane Mnouchkine, by Judith Miller. Routledge Perfomance Practitioners series. May. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2007
"Kommer and Big 2nd Episode/Business, Under the Radar Festival, The Public Theatre, New York City, January 2006" performance review. Theatre Journal December. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2006
Creative Work
Playwright and director, After Medea. Workshopped at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, and Theaterlab, NYC. 2011
Playwright and director, "The Disappearance." TheatreLab (March) and Galapagos (April), New York. 2010
"Mika," a play by Erin Courtney and Scott Adkins, developed for the United Nations meeting of world leaders on Eliminating Violence Against Women, performed for U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon, November 2008, and Women's Day, March 2009. United Nations. New York. Co-curator, producer and dramaturg, Tiyatroglobal. 2008
Director and adaptor, Iphigenia, by Euripides. Co-production between New York City College of Technogoy, the Theater Department and the Performing and Interactive Media Arts Program of Brooklyn College, and Tiyatro Global. Vorhees Theatre. Brooklyn, N.Y. 2008
Playwright and director, Ubu. Brooklyn College, fall. 2006
Director, On the Verge, by Eric Overmyer. Brooklyn College. 2005
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
PSC-CUNY Research Award, to create an original play, After Medea, to be workshopped at the Oregon Shakesepare Festival. (Grants and Fellowships) 2011
PSC-CUNY Research Award, to work on book, Theatre in a Global Context: A History. Brooklyn College. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
New Faculty Fund Award, for research at Paris' Théâtre du Soleil toward a chapter on the theater practices of Ariane Mnouchkine for the new edition of Twentieth-Century Actor Training, edited by Alison Hodge (London and New York: Routledge), to be published in 2009. (Grants and Fellowships) 2008
New Faculty Fund Award, Brooklyn College, to attend International Theatre Festival in Istanbul for research toward developing a course and book on theater in the Age of Globalization. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
PSC-CUNY Research Award, to attend International Theatre Festival in Singapore for research toward developing a course and book on theater in the Age of Globalization. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship, Brooklyn College, to attend the International Theatre Festival of Bogota, Colombia, for research toward a course and book on theater in the Age of Globalization. (Grants and Fellowships) 2005
Research Activities
Participant, XI Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota, as researcher and programming advisor to TeatroStageFest, the annual Latino Theatre Festival of New York City. 2008
Attended the Singapore International Arts Festival and interviewed administrative and artistic participants for book on theater in the Age of Globalization. 2007
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"After Medea, the Play: Reconsidering Medea's Motivations and Actions." Comparative Drama Conference. Baltimore. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Going Back to School: Traditional Theatre as a Source of Innovationin the Work of the Théâtre du Soleil, from Commedia dell'arte to Kathakali, Topeng, and Bunraku." International Federation of Theatre Research Conference. Osaka, Japan. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Théâtre du Soleil and Ariane Mnouchkine: A Cosmopolitan Vision in the Age of Globalization." CUNY Graduate Center. New York. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"The Avant-Garde in the Age of Globalization." International Federation of Theatre Research Conference. Munich. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"Ubu, a Look at Contemporary Power Politics." Zicklin Conference on Governmentality and Globalization. Brooklyn College. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"Local Subjectivities and Global Visions. Heteroglossia at an International Theatre in Amsterdam" paper and film presentation. International Federation of Theatre Research Conference. Helsinki. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
"Made in China: Collaborating Across Divides." Comparative Drama Conference. Los Angeles. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
Professional Leadership
Program head, M.A. in theater history and criticism, since 2006. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2008
Chair, Dramaturgy of Cross Cultural Creation panel, Comparative Drama Conference. Los Angeles. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2006
Community Activities
Organized acting workshops by Duccio Bellugi-Vannuccini and Maurice Durozier of the Théâtre du Soleil, held at Brooklyn College, summer. 2009
Other Professional Activities
Four-week summer intensive workshop on Collaboration, presented by Performance and Interactive Media Art, at the Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal. Member of the faculty, teaching theories and techniques of collaboration. Summer. 2008
