Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre
Matt Ripa is a director, producer and educator and the Founding Artistic Director of the DC Queer Theatre Festival and former President of the Board and Artistic Ally for Ally Theatre Company. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Directing from The Catholic University of America and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Theatre Performance from Salisbury University.
Matt has directed at companies throughout the Washington region, including Ally Theatre Company, Keegan Theatre, Doorway Arts Ensemble, Imagination Stage, Forum Theatre, Pinky Swear Productions, Rorschach Theatre Company, HUB Theatre, and participated in the Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival. In 2010, he was awarded a Creative Community Fund grant in collaboration with choreographer Jane Franklin and composer Brad Linde. The result, A GREAT(ER) DEPRESSION, in which he also performed, was featured at the Source Festival in 2010.
Recent directing credits include the Helen Hayes Recommended THE WAR BOYS at Ally Theatre Company and MACK, BETH at Keegan Theatre Company in Washington, DC. With Doorway Arts Ensemble, where he was the Producing Artistic Director, Matt directed the world premieres of MORNING, MIRANDA, SEX & EDUCATION and GODIVA DATES & ONE NIGHT STANDS. At Forum Theatre, he directed the world premiere of WE TIRESIAS, which won DC City Paper's choice for Best New Play in 2013 and TheatreMania's audience award for Best Drama at the 2012 Capital Fringe Festival. At Catholic University, Matt directed 12 ANGRY JURORS, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE LARAMIE PROJECT, and OUR TOWN which received MD Theatre Guide's Audience Choice Award for Best Educational Theatre Production.
As an educator, Matt has over 15 years' experience teaching students grades K through college. At Catholic University, Matt taught undergraduate courses in directing, theatre production/management, and acting, as well as courses in the Masters of Theatre Education Program. For the Performing Arts Training Studio, he taught improvisation and led workshops in auditioning with the National Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts and The Actor's Center. Theatre is a powerful tool for social change and in that spirit, Matt taught theatre to students with language-based learning disabilities at the Katherine Thomas School in Rockville, MD and at The Kingsbury Day School in Washington, DC and served on the board for Voices Unbarred, an arts organization "that centers the voices of people impacted by incarceration, and collaborates with theatre practitioners and policy organizations, to creatively reimagine the prison system and advocate for change."
More information can be found on his website: www.matt-ripa.com