Reid Farrington
I am a theater director, filmmaker, new media artist, and creative leader whose work lives at the intersection of performance, technology, and organizational transformation.
For more than two decades, I have created performances that combine live actors, cinematic language, archival material, and emerging technologies. I am interested in what happens when theater absorbs the tools of film, installation, and digital media—and when technology becomes more than a production device, shaping how a story is structured, experienced, and remembered.
My productions have been presented nationally and internationally and have contributed to New York’s contemporary performance landscape. The work has been recognized by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and American Theatre, and supported by organizations including the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation,
Franklin Furnace, and HERE Arts Center.
Alongside my artistic practice, I have spent my career building the environments that allow ambitious creative work to happen.
At The Wooster Group, I helped advance the company’s transition from analog video systems to computer-based media playback, securing opportunities to test emerging software in live performance. That experience shaped my understanding of technology as both an artistic material and a collaborative practice.
At the Whitney Museum of American Art, I expanded the museum’s technical and production capabilities during a defining period of institutional growth, helping prepare the organization for its move downtown and for a new generation of increasingly complex, technology-driven exhibitions and programs.
At The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I transformed and scaled a multidisciplinary production organization that now supports more than 1,200 performances, installations, broadcasts, and live events each year. I built a team of more than 40 technical professionals and developed the systems, leadership structures, and shared practices needed to support artists, curators, designers, educators, and audiences across one of the world’s largest cultural institutions.
Although these roles have taken place inside major organizations, I approach the work as an artist. I look for the underlying structure of a problem, identify the people and ideas that need to be connected, and create the conditions in which something previously impossible can take form.
Whether I am directing a performance, designing a media system, or leading an organization through change, the questions are often the same: What are we trying to make? Why does it matter? What is preventing it from happening? And how do we bring the right people together to make it real?
My work is grounded in the belief that exceptional creative experiences emerge from trust, experimentation, technical rigor, disciplined execution, and a compelling shared vision.
Awards and Residencies
2020 Broadway World Regional Awards
Nominated for Best Ensemble, First Theater You Want To Go Back To
and Production of a Play of the Decade
2017 Drama Desk Award
Nominated for Outstadfing Projection Design and Unique Theaterical Experience
for CasablancaBox
2015 NYU MAGENT
Teaching Artist in Residence
2014 -17 Here Arts Center
HARP - Artist Residency
2011 – 2013 3LD Art & Technology Center New York, NY
3LD/ 3D+ - a cooperative development program
2010 – 2012 Abrons Arts Center/ The Henry Street Settlement
Artist Residency
March 2010 Wexner Center for the Arts Columbus, OH
Artist Residency Award
Oct. – Jan. 2010 3LD Art & Technology Center New York, NY
Artist Residency
Feb. – June 2009 Eyebeam Art and Technology Center New York, NY
Artist Residency
November 2008 Hews Design Ward, American Theater Wing New York, NY
Nominated for Hamlet
June –July 2008 3LD Art & Technology Center New York, NY
Artist Residency
Funding Awards
2021 NJCA Artist Fellowship
Interdisciplinary Performance and Interdisciplinary Visual Art - BrandoCapote
2017 The Venturous Fund
Casablancabox
2017 MediaTHE
Casablancabox
2017 The Axe-Houghton Foundation
Casablancabox
2014 New York State Council on the Arts
Casablancabox
2012 The Jerome Foundation
The Return
2012 New York State Council on the Arts
Individual Artist Award– Tyson vs. Ali
2012 The Jerome Foundation
Tyson vs. Ali
2011 The Jerome Foundation
A Christmas Carol
2011 The Greenwall Foundation
A Christmas Carol
2010 The Franklin Furnace Fund
The David Project
2010 The Experimental Television Center Presentation Funds
Gin & “It”
2010 New York State Council on the Arts
Individual Artist Award– Gin & “It”
2010 The Experimental Television Center Finishing Funds
Gin & “It”
2010 The Jerome Foundation
Gin & “It”
2010 The Greenwall Foundation
Gin & “It”
2009 New York State Foundation for the Arts
Fellow in the Digital Arts
Bibliography
Romig, Rollo “BrandoCapote” (review) The New Yorker, November 2019
Wilson, James “BrandoCapote” (review) OffOffOnline, November 2019
Rifkin, Mark “BrandoCapote” (review) This Week in New York, November 2019
Benjamin, Joel “BrandoCapote”A fascinating gem that takes a difficult subject and quietly revels in it” (review) Theater Scene, November 2019
Lombardi, Joe“Creativity soars in the examination of toxic masculinity in the multimedia dance play” (review) Broadway World, November 2019
Russo, Gillian, “BrandoCapote” (review) Plays to See, November 2019
Collins, Gregor “BrandoCapote’, All That Glitters is not Gold” (review) Theater that Matters, November 2019
Christley, Janie N. “THe Lively ‘CasabalncaBox’ Captures the Magical Anarchy of an Enduring Classic” (review) The Village Voice, April 2017
Webster, Andy. “‘CasablancaBox’ Is Looking at You, Kid, Behind the Scenes” (review) The New York Times, April 2017
Leeds, Ryan. “Here’s Looking at You, Kid: ‘CasablancaBox’” (review) The Broadway Blog, April 2017
Jose, Lindsay and Ben. “The Maxamoo Podcast Reviews.” (audio blog post) Maxamoo. April 2017
Russell, Curtis. “CasablancaBox” (review) Offoffonline.com, April 2017
Leiter, Samuel L. “It’s Still the Same Old Story: CarablancaBox” (review) TheaterPizzaz.com, April 2017
Rifkin, Mark. “CasablancaBox” (review) This Week in New York, April 2017
Ross. “He says: CabsablancaBox” A Better ‘Why’ to Match the ‘Wow’” (review) Times Square Chronicles, April 2017
Reilly, Darryl. “CasablancaBox” (review) TheaterScene.net, April 2017
Shaw, Helen “CasablancaBox” (review) Time Out New York, April 2017
Droitcour, Brian & Smith William S. “The Digitized Museum” Art in America, October 2016
Pia, Catton. “The 10 Best Sports and Arts Moments of 2014” The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2014
Als, Hilton. “Knockout: Violence and desire “Mechanical and Tyson vs. Ali” (review)
The New Yorker, Jan 2014
Isherwood, Charles. “A Dream Fight Made Real Onstage” (review) The New York Times, Jan. 2014
Pia, Catton. “Dream Bout at Last, In a Ring Performance” (review) The Wall Street Journal. Jan. 2014
Vincentelli, Elisabeth. “Boxer’ show’s a KO” (review) The New York Post. Jan. 2014
Hirsch, Jack. “Muhammad Ali versus Mike Tyson” (review) Boxing News. Jan. 2014
McGuinness, Ross. “Tyson and Ali …get ready for a big hit” (review) London Metro. Jan. 2014
Hudak, Ryan. “Tyson vs. Ali” (review) New York Theater Review. Jan 2014
McElroy, Steven. “Theater Meant to Keep You in Your Seat but on Your Toes” (preview) The New York Times, Jan. 2014
Stiffler, Scott. “Just Do Art: Special COIL Edition” (preview) The Villager. Dec. 2014
Portwood, Jerry. “The Sweet Science” (preview) Backstage.com. Jan 2014
Winter, Gary. “Tyson vs. Ali: Reid Farrington Mashes It Up With Two Heavyweights” (feature) The Brooklyn Rail. Dec. 2014
Zinoman, Jason. “Marley’s Ghost and Other Mash-ups” (review) The New York Times, Dec. 2011
Rachel Merrill Moss. “Reid Farrington's A Christmas Carol or Dickens: The Unparalleled Necromancer” (review) Theater is Easy.com Dec. 2011
Frank Boudreaux “Conjuring Dickens Back to Life”(Cover Image) American Theater Dec. 2011
Barbour, David W. “The Prevalence of Projection” American Theater Dec. 2011
Rifkin, Mark “Reid Farrington: THE PASION PROJECT” (review) This Week In New York, Sept. 2011
Boyd, Johnathon D. “Gin & ‘It’” (review) Theater Journal, Dec. 2010
Barbour, David W. “Enough Rope” Lighting and Sound America, June 2010
Hannaham, James. “”Gin & ‘It’” Is Gorgeous But Safe” (review) The Village Voice, May 2010
Zinoman, Jason. “A Hitchcock Dialogue, From Screen to Stage and Back” (review) The New York Times, Apr. 2010
Horwitz, Andy. “Reid Farrington at PS122” (review) Culturebot, Apr. 2010
Bales, Charles. ”Dance of Death” (review) Offoffonline.com, Apr. 2010
Fitzgerald, Jason. “Gin & ‘It’” (review) Backstage.com, Apr. 2010
Reilly, Joy. “’Gin & ‘It’’ Makes World Debut at the Wexner” WOSU Public Media, Mar. 2010
“Reid and Laura on ‘The Passion Project’” Soul Food Vancouver, Jan. 2010
Lynch, Brian. “Reid Farrington’s ‘The Passion Project’ rises from flames” The Georgia Straight, Jan. 2010
Graff, Tom. “’The Passion Project:’ Joan’s Story is in the Room” The Vancouver Observer, Jan. 2010
La Rocco, Claudia. “Joan of Arc Is on Display As Star of Stage and Screen” The New York Times, Sept. 2008
Kourlas, Gia “Shots in the dark” Time Out New York, Aug. 2008
Sellar, Tom. “The Passion Project” The Village Voice, Sept. 2008
Shaw, Helen. “Seeing The Light” Time Out New York, Sept. 2008
La Rocco, Claudia. “What you are doing this weekend” WNYC.com, July 2008
Barbour, David W. “Reid Farrington on The Only Tribe” Lighting and Sound America, Dec. 2008
Rooney, David. “Hamlet” Variety, Oct. 2007