Richard Kimmel
Encyclopedia
Richard Kimmel is a New York
-based theatre director, writer
, and theatrical producer
. He is Executive Director of The Box, a venue for theater
, music, and nightlife in the Lower East Side
of Manhattan
, and Artistic Director of Cannon Company, a performing ensemble.
’s Master of Fine Arts
program in Directing.
He has created and directed live performances and special events such as Pandora (The Box), a light and video show for Jennifer Hudson
's New York concert debut One Night Only: Dreamgirls (Hammerstein Ballroom),
and Schwarzwald (Roseland). In 2007, Schwarzwald was made into a feature film, Schwarzwald: The Movie You Can Dance To, written and directed by Kimmel. The film, which has no spoken words, is based on music and footage filmed at the 2006 Black Party in the Roseland Ballroom, noted for its sexually-charged shows. Following premieres in New York (NewFest) and Los Angeles (OutFest Platinum Selection), the film screened in Paris, Amsterdam, and Montreal.
Kimmel's other New York directing and producing credits include Puss (the Performing Garage
), Pleasuredome I and II (Combustive Arts), Witches' MacBeth (HERE
, Angel Orensanz Center
, WAH Center), and Three Sisters (28th Street Theater), The Secret Agent
(Dactyl). He also produced and directed the Pleasure Blister cabaret
series at downtown New York City nightclub Filter 14, and the New Lost City 2004 New Year's Eve
extravaganza at the Lunatarium
in Dumbo, Brooklyn
.
His international and regional credits include The Tooth of Crime
(New Grove Theatre, London
), Endgame
(Actor's Workshop, Boston
), American Buffalo
(14th Street Playhouse, Atlanta), Twelfth Night (Alliance Theater, Atlanta), and The Comedy of Errors
(Theatre Emory, Atlanta).
For many years, Kimmel has been an associate with The Wooster Group
, working in a variety of roles ranging from producing the Performing Garage
's "Visiting Artist Series" and "Emerging Artist Series" to helping secure funding for special projects. He was Assistant Director of the Group's 2002 repertory production To You, The Birdie! (Phèdre),
and has toured to more than 20 cities internationally with the show, including London, Paris
, Berlin
, Amsterdam
, Barcelona
, and Istanbul
.
Kimmel co-founded the New York City performance-art theater The Box on Valentine's Day in 2007 with partners Simon Hammerstein (the grandson of famed lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II
) and Randy Weiner
.
The club, which The New York Times said "was labeled the savior of hip Manhattan nightlife" when it opened, was the subject of controversies in 2008. Two performers alleged inappropriate behavior by Kimmel and Hammerstein (which they both denied, and their other employees discounted), the extreme nature of some of the club's acts was criticized, and noise complaints lead to the local community board recommending that the club's liquor license renewal be denied. (The license was ultimately renewed.) In 2011, Kimmel and his partners opened The Box Soho in London.
Kimmel is a member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and recipient of awards from the NEH, the Princess Grace Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts
.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based theatre director, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and theatrical producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
. He is Executive Director of The Box, a venue for theater
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, music, and nightlife in the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and Artistic Director of Cannon Company, a performing ensemble.
Biography
Kimmel is a graduate of Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
’s Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
program in Directing.
He has created and directed live performances and special events such as Pandora (The Box), a light and video show for Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson. She came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol coming in seventh place...
's New York concert debut One Night Only: Dreamgirls (Hammerstein Ballroom),
and Schwarzwald (Roseland). In 2007, Schwarzwald was made into a feature film, Schwarzwald: The Movie You Can Dance To, written and directed by Kimmel. The film, which has no spoken words, is based on music and footage filmed at the 2006 Black Party in the Roseland Ballroom, noted for its sexually-charged shows. Following premieres in New York (NewFest) and Los Angeles (OutFest Platinum Selection), the film screened in Paris, Amsterdam, and Montreal.
Kimmel's other New York directing and producing credits include Puss (the Performing Garage
Performing Garage
The Performing Garage is an off-Broadway theater in SoHo, New York City. Established in 1968, it is the permanent home of the experimental theater company originally named The Performance Group that morphed in 1980 into The Wooster Group , and their primary performance venue.Since 1978, it also...
), Pleasuredome I and II (Combustive Arts), Witches' MacBeth (HERE
Here
-Music:*Here *Here *Here *Here *"Here" *"Here" *"Here" -Other:...
, Angel Orensanz Center
Angel Orensanz Center
The Angel Orensanz Center is located at 172 Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side of New York City, New York...
, WAH Center), and Three Sisters (28th Street Theater), The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals largely with the life of Mr. Verloc and his job as a spy. The Secret Agent is also notable as it is one of Conrad's later political novels, which move away from his typical...
(Dactyl). He also produced and directed the Pleasure Blister cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
series at downtown New York City nightclub Filter 14, and the New Lost City 2004 New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
extravaganza at the Lunatarium
Lunatarium
The Lunatarium was an art and music space located in a warehouse loft in DUMBO, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City. Managed by DUMBO-based art collective Dumboluna, the Lunatarium was in operation between 2001 - 2004...
in Dumbo, Brooklyn
DUMBO, Brooklyn
Dumbo, an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It encompasses two sections: one located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another that continues...
.
His international and regional credits include The Tooth of Crime
The Tooth of Crime
The Tooth of Crime is a musical play written by Sam Shepard which made its premiere in London's Open Space Theatre on July 17, 1972. It tells the story of aging rock singer Hoss, doing battle with rival Crow.-Plot:...
(New Grove Theatre, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), Endgame
Endgame (play)
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. It was originally written in French ; as was his custom, Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the...
(Actor's Workshop, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
), American Buffalo
American Buffalo (play)
American Buffalo is a 1975 play by American playwright David Mamet which had its premiere in a showcase production at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago. After two more showcase productions, it opened on Broadway on February 16, 1977...
(14th Street Playhouse, Atlanta), Twelfth Night (Alliance Theater, Atlanta), and The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
(Theatre Emory, Atlanta).
For many years, Kimmel has been an associate with The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged during 1975-1980 from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group and took its name in 1980...
, working in a variety of roles ranging from producing the Performing Garage
Performing Garage
The Performing Garage is an off-Broadway theater in SoHo, New York City. Established in 1968, it is the permanent home of the experimental theater company originally named The Performance Group that morphed in 1980 into The Wooster Group , and their primary performance venue.Since 1978, it also...
's "Visiting Artist Series" and "Emerging Artist Series" to helping secure funding for special projects. He was Assistant Director of the Group's 2002 repertory production To You, The Birdie! (Phèdre),
and has toured to more than 20 cities internationally with the show, including London, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, and Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
.
Kimmel co-founded the New York City performance-art theater The Box on Valentine's Day in 2007 with partners Simon Hammerstein (the grandson of famed lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
) and Randy Weiner
Randy Weiner
Randy Weiner is an American playwright, producer and theater/nightclub owner. Weiner co-wrote the Off-Broadway musical The Donkey Show and, as one-third of EMURSIVE, produced the Drama Desk Award winning New York premiere of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More...
.
The club, which The New York Times said "was labeled the savior of hip Manhattan nightlife" when it opened, was the subject of controversies in 2008. Two performers alleged inappropriate behavior by Kimmel and Hammerstein (which they both denied, and their other employees discounted), the extreme nature of some of the club's acts was criticized, and noise complaints lead to the local community board recommending that the club's liquor license renewal be denied. (The license was ultimately renewed.) In 2011, Kimmel and his partners opened The Box Soho in London.
Kimmel is a member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and recipient of awards from the NEH, the Princess Grace Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts
New York State Council on the Arts
The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...
.
External links
- The Box NYC.com – official website
- The Box Soho.com – official website
- Schwarzwald Trailer