Rick Davis

Rick Davis is Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at George Mason University, where he also serves as Executive Director of the Hylton Performing Arts Center and Professor of Theater. He came to Mason in 1991 as Artistic Director of Theater of the First Amendment (TFA). Under his leadership, TFA (which ceased production in 2012) originated work that has contributed to the American repertory through subsequent production, publication, and NPR and PBS broadcast. TFA has been nominated for more than thirty Helen Hayes Awards, winning twelve including Outstanding Resident Production and Best New Play. He has directed widely in the professional theater and opera worlds, at such venues as Center Stage, the Kennedy Center, Unseam'd Shakespeare, Delaware Theatre Company, Players Theatre Columbus, American Ibsen Theater, Opera Idaho, Lake George Opera, the IN Series, and many others, as well as directing dozens of productions in college and university theaters. For six years he was also Artistic Director of Mason's Center for the Arts, including its Great Performances at Mason series, presenting a 40+ event season of distinguished artists and ensembles from around the world.

His work as a translator of Calderón de la Barca includes The Phantom Lady, The Great Theatre of the World, The Constant Prince, and Life is a Dream, all of which have been produced in university or professional theaters. The collection, entitled Calderón: Four Great Plays of the Golden Age was published in 2009 by Smith and Kraus.

He also has co-translated (with Brian Johnston) five plays of Henrik Ibsen which have been widely produced at leading regional theaters such as The Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Center Stage, the Alliance Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and others, as well as by many colleges and universities, and are published in the "Great Translations for Actors" series by Smith and Kraus. He has contributed several entries to the Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, a longer overview article to the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World, and an essay on translation for Global Studies Review.

He is the librettist for two works with composer Kim D. Sherman: The Songbird and the Eagle, premiered in 2006 (and recently revived) by the San José Chamber Orchestra, and Love's Comedy, an opera based on the early Ibsen play, premiered by the Mason Festival of the Arts in 2008.

Prior to coming to George Mason, he was Resident Dramaturg and Associate Artistic Director at Center Stage in Baltimore; on the faculty at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland; and co-founder/Associate Artistic Director of the American Ibsen Theater in Pittsburgh. At Mason he has been honored with the University's Teaching Excellence Award (1997) and as the Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year (2006). Rick received his B.A. from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and the M.F.A. and D.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.

Between writing, directing, teaching, and administrative assignments, Rick enjoys flying as a private pilot and co-owner of a Piper Cherokee, and has been a licensed amateur radio operator for more than forty years (he started young). He also maintains an avid avocational interest in singing, and will perform when asked, and sometimes when not.