THOMAS RICCIO Since 1988 Riccio has been at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he is now an Associate Professor of Theatre. His work as a stage director and creator has, since coming to Alaska, been devoted to the exploration and documentation of indigenous performance. His work with Alaska's indigenous people provided both foundation and inspiration for performance explorations with other indigenous peoples. Since 1991 he has worked internationally in the area of intercultural and indigenous performance, working with all of the groups noted in this informational brochure. In addition to his performance work he has has extensively research and documented the traditional performance and rituals of the groups he has worked with. His work has received funding from the Mellon Foundation, the NEH, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Goethe Institute, ATT, SIDA (Swedish Development), NORAD (Norwegian Development Aid), FINNITA (Finish), the Finish Volunteer Service, the British Council, the Embassy of the Netherlands, the Danish government, the Republic of Sakha, the South African government, the Zambian government, the United State Information Service, the !Xu and Khwe Cultural Trust, the Northern Cape Tourist Board ,and the South African Defense Forces.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Alaska he was the Artistic Director of the Organic Theater in Chicago (1985 to 88) a major off-loop theatre with. The Organic Theatre was, under his direction, devoted to the presentation of original and experimental work and to this end he created the Organic Greenhouse Project, a cooperative of independent theatre and performance artists and groups.

From 1984 to 85 he served as the Resident Director and Dramaturg for the Cleveland Play House. From 1983 to 85 Riccio was a freelance director based in New York City and directing at such theatre as La Mama ETC, the New York Theatre Workshop and the Teatro di Roma (Italy's national theatre.)

While a graduate student at Boston University, Riccio served as the Assistant Literary Director for the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University. While there he served for two years as research assistant to Robert Brustein. He received his MFA in theatre from Boston University in 1982. with further study at New York University's Performance Studies program.

Riccio was a Visiting Professor at the Korea National University of the Arts in Seoul, during the fall of 1996. While there he developed and directed Twelve Moons, a performance evolved from Korean traditional mask and Pansori performance. He has been a Visiting Professor in Drama Therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco) where he was a frequent workshop instructor in such areas as Ritual, Shamanic, and Indigenous performance.

In 1997 Riccio developed Pipedreams, a performance based on the oral history accounts relating to the building of the Tans-Alaska pipeline (1974-78). Pipedreams was developed through a series of community meetings and interviews and the highly successful production included pipeline workers. The production has toured to Anchorage's OutNorth Theatre and was performed at the Edward Albee Theatre Conference.

During the Summer of 1999 Riccio participated in APPEX, the Asian Pacific Performance Exchange. The six-week fellowship brought together performing artists from Asia and the United States and was sponsored by UCLA's Department of World Cultures with funding provided by the Ford Foundation.

During the Fall of 1999 Riccio conducted workshops the the University of Nairobi and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

His play, Comeback Fur Elvis, was produced by the Kleist Theatre in Frankfurt. He has published articles in a variety of international journals and is currently working on a book, Performing Place, about his experiences with indigenous people. His play Yahoo Nation, a satire on American History, will be produced during the spring of 2001.His articles on the subject of indigenous performance have been published in TDR (The Drama Review), Theatre Topics, TheatreForum, Theatre Research International, Shaman's Drum, and American Indian Culture and Research Journal.

Thomas Riccio has set himself no easy task. It is the aim of his research to eventually incorporate elements of aboriginal performance into traditionally Western performance, liberating it from its present shackles and making it more spiritual, more intense, and it should be said, more natural experience for the audience. Perhaps, in the process, the audience themselves may be more empowered to counter the alienation gradually overtaking Western culture. The Leader Durban, South Africa

In the desert there are two stones. One is short and the other is tall and square at the top. They are a hard stone. White and black in color--mixed up. Surrounded by grass and small bushes. They are by themselves out in the open--in the desert. They represent man and woman. The stones are called (n) Whatsu. People came out of the male stone. All nations. Cattle, animals, plants and things came out of the female stone. There is a hole in the stone. Trees came out first and were there when the Bushmen came out. First an ordinary man came out. Then the good doctor and bad doctor came out. The good doctor walked on. The bad doctor stopped at the tree. People just came out. The wind was blowing a little. The wind sounded so nice that people came out. They didn't exist before. They all came out in one day. The Bushmen were first. It was hot outside. People came out from early in the morning until dark that evening. The stone has power, always--from the beginning. People still live inside. Near the stones there are many Bushmen paintings and foot prints. At night you can see light inside. You can hear people and their activities. Inside the stone because they live there Paintings are on the inside of the stone. Then in the day the light is gone. Nothing. "The Origin of the World." From interviews conduced during workshops with the !Xuu & Khwe Bushmen

For further information about Litooma and its programs contact: Thomas Riccio LITOOMA 3293 Rosie Creek Road Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 USA Telephone: 907/474.8721 e-mail: fftpr@aurora.alaska.edu