Ric Averill is a theatre arts factotum, working as a playwright, director,
screenwriter, composer, music director, conductor, actor, musician and
educator. Averill serves as the emeritus artistic director of performing arts
at the Lawrence Arts Center, the original home of his midcareer touring company
Seem-To-Be Players. Averill received the AATE Charlotte Chorpenning Cup for lifetime
achievement award in playwrighting. He has had productions commissioned the Kennedy
Center, First Stage, The Coterie Theatre, the Lawrence Arts Center, Nashville
Children’s Theatre and many more. Averill’s most recent works include The
Fantastical Dangerous Journey of Q, commissioned by the Rebel Playhouse in
New York, and The Snow Queen, a 90-minute ballet/dance drama featuring
60 minutes of music and dance plus a 40-minute script that enables a dance
company to work with a theatre company to produce a large multi-age, multilevel
cast. Averill’s works are regularly done across the country and in his
semi-retirement, he loves to attend shows and serve as guest playwright
whenever possible. His wife, Jeanne, is an accomplished actress, teacher, co-writer
and the major influence in his work. Averill’s adult children, Will Averill and
Trish Neuteboom, are also major contributors to the Averill family’s theatre work
in Lawrence, Kansas, and beyond. The Averills have four grandchildren, who have
already taken to the stage in their works and others.
