Richard Riddell

Richard V. Riddell
Nationality	United States
Education	Stanford University
Known for	Lighting design
Awards	Tony Award for Best Lighting Design; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design

Richard V. Riddell is an American lighting designer.

He graduated from Knox College with a B.A. with honors in 1972. In 1978, he received his doctorate from Stanford University.

He has had extensive teaching experience, working at such schools as the University of California, San Diego, Harvard University. He finally moved to Duke University, where he became vice president as well as university secretary and assistant to the president, Richard H. Brodhead.

Riddell has also worked on numerous shows, including two Broadway shows: A Walk in the Woods and Big River. He mostly designed lighting for the shows, but occasionally dabbled in scenic design.^[1]

He is also published many articles in different magazines and newspapers such as American Theater, The New York Times, TheaterWeek, The Drama Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Contemporary Designers, and Theater Crafts.^[1]

Teaching

Riddell taught in the theater department at the University of California, San Diego from 1978 to 1987. He then became the director of the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University until 1991. He moved to work at Duke in 1992 as the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Professor of the Practice of Theater Studies,^[2] teaching classes such as "Arts and Contemporary Society", "Lighting Design for the Theater", and "Arts and Stage in the 20th Century". He also became the chairman of Duke's Department of Theater Studies. In 2007, it was announced that he would succeed Allison Haltom as Duke's vice president and secretary, as well as retain his position as assistant to the president.^[3]

Designs

He designed lights for such shows as