390 Word Theatre Bio

Performing as a child actor in summer stock theatre, Rick Sacks then went to high school where he received the best thespian award. He eventually moved into the role of musician in summer stock and in 1976 received his Masters in Music. He has performed at Carnegie Recital, The NY Shakespeare Theatre (Papp) and Alice Tully Hall as a percussionist. After teaching at Bennington College in Vermont Rick began traveling to Toronto to play in an Art Rock Band. His work in sound design and composition in theatre for young people has resulted in continuous performances throughout Europe, the US. And Canada. Rick has also performed as a musician throughout the world on tour with Red Sky Performance (Vancouver and Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo). He has directed a number of music theatre works including his own Toy Weather and more recently, the Evergreen Club Gamelan, critically praised opera, How it Storms. His composition Water Music, commissioned by the Victoria Symphony utilized remote controlled flying fish and a deep-sea diver costume complete with bubbles. From 2011 to 2016 he was Artistic Director of Arraymusic. Rick continues to freelance as a percussionist, sound designer and composer while continuing to work at Arraymusic as its technical director.

Rick conducts the Array Ensemble and performs as a percussionist. His composition spans orchestral works through to solos with a large percentage being written for contemporary dance and theatre for young people. Recent works include the music for the world premiere’s of Adventures of the Smoid, a puppet show written and directed by Mr. Sacks for the Evergreen Club Gamelan, the stage version of The Never Ending Story (Roseneath Theatre) at Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre and the Skirball Theatre NY. His sound design fir Theatre for Young Audiences has resulted in continuous performances throughout Europe and the US. Danny King of the Basement (Roseneath), Caribou Song,(Red Sky), Mistatim (Red Sky).

Rick’s music, in collaboration with three musicians from Mongolia received a DORA award for Red Sky’s production of Tono. Rick has been nominated for Doras for Sibs (Tarragon), Pinocchio (YPT), Backbone (Red Sky). His composition Water Music, commissioned by the Victoria Symphony was premiered in 2012 and utilized remote controlled flying fish and a deep sea diver costume complete with bubbles. Upcoming performances include composition and performance of Red Sky’s newest work Backbone at Canadian Stage (Nov. 2017) Rick was Artistic Director of Arraymusic from 2011 to 2016 and Array’s Technical Director from 2016-17. He now broadcasts live at twitch.tv/soundpilot

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