STAFF
LEADERSHIP
Jeffrey Mousseau
jeff@ancramcenter.org
Jeffrey Mousseau (he/him) is a theatre director, producer and educator. For Ancram Center, he has directed Invasion! (Berkshire Theatre Critics Award, Outstanding Ensemble), An Iliad with MaConnia Chesser which was remounted at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA (Berkshire Theatre Critics Award, Outstanding Solo Performance), 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
paul@ancramcenter.org
Paul Ricciardi (he/him) is an educator, actor, director, and voice and text coach. He is founding Co-Director of the Ancram Center where, along with Jeffrey Mousseau, he has been overseeing all aspects of programming and production since the Center’s 2016 inaugural season.
Paul is the Creator and Director of Ancram Center’s Real People Real Stories, a program that supports community members in creating and sharing compelling, personal narratives. This approach is also being utilized by the Taconic Hills Elementary School through an innovative storytelling workshop for all 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Offered at the school each fall since 2020, the project has served over 1000 students. Paul is the resident Vocal Coach for Ancram Center, and has coached productions with local, regional and NYC theaters including WAM, Stageworks, America-in-Play, Playhouse Creatures, and countless university theater productions. He is a Designated Linklater Voice teacher, and trained extensively with Kristin Linklater.
Paul earned his MFA in Acting at Trinity Repertory Company 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, and has also taught at Siena College, Western Connecticut State University, University at Albany, and Rhode Island College.
Marketing & Communications
Lauren Letellier, Press Representative
pr@ancramoperahouse.org
Lauren Letellier (she/her): After an award-winning career in NYC public relations, Lauren is now a writer, performer, town historian, and press representative for Ancram Center for the Arts. Her hit solo show The Village Cidiot is a fish-out-of-water tale about leaving Manhattan and moving to a tiny upstate town, where her city skills are no match for rural reality. It premiered in 2023 at Bridge St. Theater and was critically acclaimed as "Uproarious and poignant," and "An entrancing piece of theater." www.thevillagecidiot.com. Her previous show The Fiery Sword of Justice exposed the hilarious and harrowing similarities between family and corporate dysfunction. New York critics called it “bold, funny, wise, and brave.” She lives in Hillsdale with her husband/co-town historian Chris Atkins and their furry feline overlord, Rocky. Follow them at hillsdalehistorians.wordpress.com.
Madison Bounds, Digital Communications
Jane Bowles, Bookkeeper
EDUCATION
Chris McCoy, Administrative Coordinator & Teaching Artist
Sarah Katan, Teaching Artist
Simone Stevens, Teaching Artist
Production
Ruth Moe, Producer
ruth@ancramcenter.org
Ruth is delighted to be joining Ancram Center as Director of Production for the 2024 season. Previous credits include: Producer, Lumberyard Contemporary Performing Arts; Producer for the Sarah Lawrence College Theatre Program; Director of Production for the Westport Country Playhouse 2000-2010; Production Manager for the Wooster Group, Mabou Mines, Shakespeare and Company, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Classic Stage Company, Under the Radar Festival, Colorado World Theatre Festival, The Jerash Festival in Amman Jordan, Berkshire Public Theatre, New York theatre of the Deaf, East Coast Arts, Hudson Theatre NY, and the Court Theatre.
2024 Interns
Juliana Morgado Brito
Juliana (she/her) is an emerging theatre director and designer from Teresópolis, Brazil. Juliana has recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, with Honors in English. As an undergraduate, she worked on 19 student productions, exploring all areas of theater production, including design, production, publicity, and direction. As a senior in college, she was co-president of the Brown Theatre Collective and directed a production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Her most recent credits include working as a Costume Designer for a production of Newsies (PTC), assistant stage managing a production of Birthday Candles (PTC), and executive producing [sic] for Something on the Green.