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Richard Piatt

Director

Richard J. Piatt, a life-long arts nerd, has been active in music, theatre, and art for as long as he can remember. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in theatre, from Lafayette College in Easton, PA and his Master of Arts in Theatre from Villanova University. After graduation he and several peers founded Infinity Theatre Company, in Bryn Mawr, PA where he served as Artistic Director. His brief time there taught him much about the non-profit arts world and arts management (at least the ambitious little company closed in the black!). Changing directions, he earned his Master of Divinity degree (concentration in liturgical arts) with the Augustinian Friars at Washington Theological Union and was ordained in the summer of 2001. His first assignment was at the Grace J Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry at Merrimack College where he was director of liturgy and music, an adjunct faculty member, and eventually the center’s director. He paused his work at the college to study drama, specifically Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed through the lens of Latin American Liberation Theology at Goldsmith’s College, University of London where he was mentored by Prof. Maria Shevstova, PhD. While there, he honed his skills in music by founding and directing the first parish intergenerational choir at St Augustine’s Church, Hammersmith, London. He returned to Merrimack in 2010 as a faculty member in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts and partnered with colleague Dr. Kathleen Sills to create and develop a Major in Theater Arts. Over the years he developed several courses including: The London Stage, American Musical Theater, Script Analysis, The Politics of Performance; Theater, Government and Social Change, and taught all of the above as well as courses in acting and directing. He is a former board member for both Pedagogy and Theater Oppressed, Inc. and The Kenedy Center American College Theater Festival (Region 3) and has presented multiple papers and workshops on Theater of the Oppressed in the US and abroad. Upon the retirement of the founding director, Piatt was named the next director of the Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College. Directing Credits while at Merriamack include: RENT, The Producers, Mackbeth, Doubt, The Santaland Diaries, Cabaret, and Master Class. In 2019 he was admitted to participate in the prestigious Directors Lab West at Pasadena Playhouse, and took time to study Meisner Technique in New York. In 2020, after a significant period of discernment, he left Merrimack and the priesthood to head west (as one does during a pandemic). He settled in Long Beach and, as communities opened up again, began his partnership with Theater Unleashed where he developed and directed a co-project authored by Greg Crafts titled It’s Been 76 Years and We Are Still Waiting for Lefty. The production was part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival and was nominated for 6 awards, winning 3 of them. His collaborations with Crafts and Theater Unleashed continues and include Crafts’ dark choose your own adventure comedy Three Can Keep a Secret (Hollywood Fringe, NYCFringe, Edinburgh Fringe), The Meeting by Brian J Polak (Hollywood Fringe and NYCFringe), and on stage as Hans Gruber in the musical parody A Very Die-Hard Christmas (directed by Crafts). He and Crafts are currently in the writing phase of an updated version of the “Lefty” project. Additional directing credits include C J Polk’s short play Playground Games for Hollywood Short+Sweet Festival (winner, best director), Soda Persi’s Hitchcock Lane for Fierce Mamma productions, and the upcoming premier of Wendy G. Soroka’s Imago, also for Fierce Mama Productions. Additional acting credits (favorites, really) include Perry in “Love! Valor! Compassion!” (P-3 Theater), Leonard in Seminar (The BusCompany), and King Herod in Jesus Christ, Superstar (Firehouse Theater). Richard is proud to see the success in the arts of his former students (especially fellow board members Kevin and Gary) and is happy to now be a member of the board along side them. He currently resides in Long Beach, California with his amazing husband Robert and their dogs Teddy and C.G.

Richard J. Piatt, a life-long arts nerd, has been active in music, theatre, and art for as long as he can remember. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in theatre, from Lafayette College in Easton, PA and his Master of Arts in Theatre from Villanova University. After graduation he and several peers founded Infinity Theatre Company, in Bryn Mawr, PA where he served as Artistic Director. His brief time there taught him much about the non-profit arts world and arts management (at least the ambitious little company closed in the black!).

Changing directions, he earned his Master of Divinity degree (concentration in liturgical arts) with the Augustinian Friars at Washington Theological Union and was ordained in the summer of 2001. His first assignment was at the Grace J Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry at Merrimack College where he was director of liturgy and music, an adjunct faculty member, and eventually the center’s director. He paused his work at the college to study drama, specifically Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed through the lens of Latin American Liberation Theology at Goldsmith’s College, University of London where he was mentored by Prof. Maria Shevstova, PhD. While there, he honed his skills in music by founding and directing the first parish intergenerational choir at St Augustine’s Church, Hammersmith, London.

He returned to Merrimack in 2010 as a faculty member in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts and partnered with colleague Dr. Kathleen Sills to create and develop a Major in Theater Arts. Over the years he developed several courses including: The London Stage, American Musical Theater, Script Analysis, The Politics of Performance; Theater, Government and Social Change, and taught all of the above as well as courses in acting and directing.

He is a former board member for both Pedagogy and Theater Oppressed, Inc. and The Kenedy Center American College Theater Festival (Region 3) and has presented multiple papers and workshops on Theater of the Oppressed in the US and abroad. Upon the retirement of the founding director, Piatt was named the next director of the Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College. Directing Credits while at Merriamack include: RENT, The Producers, Mackbeth, Doubt, The Santaland Diaries, Cabaret, and Master Class.

In 2019 he was admitted to participate in the prestigious Directors Lab West at Pasadena Playhouse, and took time to study Meisner Technique in New York. In 2020, after a significant period of discernment, he left Merrimack and the priesthood to head west (as one does during a pandemic). He settled in Long Beach and, as communities opened up again, began his partnership with Theater Unleashed where he developed and directed a co-project authored by Greg Crafts titled It’s Been 76 Years and We Are Still Waiting for Lefty. The production was part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival and was nominated for 6 awards, winning 3 of them.

His collaborations with Crafts and Theater Unleashed continues and include Crafts’ dark choose your own adventure comedy Three Can Keep a Secret (Hollywood Fringe, NYCFringe, Edinburgh Fringe), The Meeting by Brian J Polak (Hollywood Fringe and NYCFringe), and on stage as Hans Gruber in the musical parody A Very Die-Hard Christmas (directed by Crafts). He and Crafts are currently in the writing phase of an updated version of the “Lefty” project.

Additional directing credits include C J Polk’s short play Playground Games for Hollywood Short+Sweet Festival (winner, best director), Soda Persi’s Hitchcock Lane for Fierce Mamma productions, and the upcoming premier of Wendy G. Soroka’s Imago, also for Fierce Mama Productions. Additional acting credits (favorites, really) include Perry in “Love! Valor! Compassion!” (P-3 Theater), Leonard in Seminar (The BusCompany), and King Herod in Jesus Christ, Superstar (Firehouse Theater).

Richard is proud to see the success in the arts of his former students (especially fellow board members Kevin and Gary) and is happy to now be a member of the board along side them. He currently resides in Long Beach, California with his amazing husband Robert and their dogs Teddy and C.G.

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