DIRECTORS
Jeffrey Mousseau, jeff@ancramoperahouse.org
Paul Ricciardi, paul@ancramoperahouse.org
STAFF
Vanessa Baer, Communications Manager & Dramaturg
vanessa@ancramoperahouse.org
Gail Burns, Press Representative
pr@ancramoperahouse.org
Raphael Elmasri, Technical Supervisor
Jennelle Liscombe, Administrative Coordinator
jennelle@ancramoperahouse.org
Ruth Moe, Producer
ruth@ancramoperahouse.org
Hannah Schiffer, Production Stage Manager
hannah@ancramoperahouse.org
Susan Silverman, Graphic Designer
susan@ancramoperahouse.org
Jeffrey Mousseau is a theatre director, producer and educator. For Ancram Opera House, his acclaimed October 2021 production of An Iliad with actor MaConnia Chesser has recently been remounted at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA. For Ancram, he has also helmed Homebody by Tony Kushner (Berkshire Theatre Critics Award, Outstanding Solo Performance); Young Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die; the American premiere of In Praise of Elephants by Kevin Dyer; a site-specific new work, Performing Olana, on the grounds of Olana, Hudson River School painter Frederic Church’s historic home near Hudson, NY; and two Barbara Wiechmann plays, Aunt Leaf which also toured to Aguascalientes, Mexico, and the premiere of a music-theatre adaptation of The Snow Queen.
Locally, his work has also been seen at Stageworks/Hudson and Hudson Opera House. Other directing credits include The Kennedy Center in Washington, HERE Arts Center in NYC where he is an alum of the HERE Artist Residency Program, numerous productions as founding artistic director of the Elliot & IRNE award-winning Coyote Theatre in Boston, American Southwest Theater, Provincetown Rep, and Florida Studio Theatre.
In addition to his tenure at The Coyote Theatre in Boston, he has served as general manager of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists; curator of the performance series, Start HERE: Innovative Theater for Young People, at HERE, NYC; program director at Tribeca Performing Arts Center, NYC; and producing director of the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.
As a guest artist, he has lectured or directed at Brandeis University, Emerson College, University at Albany and Siena College.
Paul Ricciardi is a founding Co-Director of Ancram Opera House where, along with Jeffrey Mousseau, he has produced seven seasons of theatre including Tony Kushner’s Homebody (Berkshire Theatre Critic’s Award, Solo Performance), Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size (two Berkshire Theatre Critic’s nominations), Young Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die, a new musical adaptation of The Snow Queen, and premiere workshop productions of Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce, Heather Christian’s None: a Breviary, and Stew and Heidi’s Staged Dives.
Paul is Creator and Director of Ancram Opera House’s Real People Real Stories, a program that utilizes a unique approach to support community members in sharing compelling, personal narratives, which is now being utilized by the Taconic Hills Central School District as part of the Middle School writing curriculum. Paul is an accomplished Voice, Speech and Dialect coach and is the resident Vocal Coach at Ancram Opera House, and he has coached productions with local, regional and NYC theaters including WAM Theater, Stageworks, America-in-Play, Playhouse Creatures, and countless university theatre productions. He is a Designated Linklater Voice teacher, and trained extensively with Kristin Linklater, and many other master voice teachers.
Paul earned his MFA in Acting at the Trinity Repertory Company, in Providence, Rhode Island, where he appeared in the world premiere of Paula Vogel’s The Long Christmas Ride Home, among many other productions in Trinity’s actor training program. Paul has also performed with Provincetown Rep, Speakeasy Stage Company, Saratoga Shakespeare Company, Chester Theatre Company, Proctors Theatre, and Playhouse Creatures, to name a few.
Paul is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation Martha Boshen Porter Artist Grant, two PSC-CUNY Research Grants, a Kingsborough Community College President’s Faculty Innovation Award, the Kennedy Center National Teaching Artist Award, and the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion. He is the former Co-Chair of Region 1 of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Paul is Professor of Theatre Arts at the City University of New York-Kingsborough Community College, where he teaches acting and voice for the stage, and was formerly on the theatre faculty at Siena College, Western Connecticut State University, University at Albany, and Rhode Island College. He lives in Ancram, New York.