ran [ræn]: verb
The act of being a Shanghai-nese born and raised, a Brooklynite grown unfazed, with a deep admiration for sloths, goats, and most importantly, tardigrades.
In 2020 I made it my business to one day surpass grandpa Joe as the No.1 fan of Amtrak after travelling across the country from NYC to Portland, OR., and back. And recently, I discovered that I’m rubbish at bowling BUT am a natural born killer baker.
And now, the “professional” part you haven’t been waiting for —
Ran is an interdisciplinary theatre artist from Shanghai, China. She’s the 2021/22 Beatrice Terry Resident at the Drama League, a resident director at the Tank where she received the inaugural Artist of the Year award. Her works have been developed with Pipeline (Chava the Giant and the Oldest Bird, PlayaLab2020), IRT (Pomegrenade, Arctic's Fridge Fest), HERE (Harmony), Dixon Place*, The Brick ([ai], an adaptation of Ayn Rand's Anthem), The Wild Project, The Tank (Prometheus Bound, In Blue, Echo; Independent Study by Ben Gassman, The Tallest Man in the World by Ailis Ni Riain, and many more). She also wrote and directed the theatrical interactive portion of Risa Puno’s The Privilege of Escape with Creative Time. A frequent collaborator of Exquisite Corpse Co.** (audio/visual installation Echo at the Memory House, on Governors Island), Assistant Directing credits include: The Invention of Tragedy (by Mac Wellman, Dir. Meghan Finn at the Flea); Baby Fat: Act I (A Screeching Weasel punk rock opera, Dir. Michael Scholar, Jr. with Columbia Stages and LA MAMA), The Great Leap (by Lauren Yee, Dir. Taibi Magar at the Atlantic Theater), and Refrigerated Dreams by Carrie Mae Weems, Nona Hendryx, Francesca Harper, and Niegel Smith at Joe's Pub. She’s a commissioned playwright at the Vanderbilt University in fall 2021 and will be directing Orlando (Sarah Ruhl after Virginia Woolf at Barnard College). ranxia.info | thearcticgroup.org
*Dixon Place credits: North (Playwright), They Lived in the Attic (Playwright, Dir.), [ai] (Script/Director), Tabula Rasa (Playwright / Director / Production Sound Designer), Word Play (Playwright, Dir. Florence Le Bas), Princess Anybody (Dir. Rachel Graf Evans, A physical performance piece/forum theatre)
** Exquisite Corpse Co. credits: De Profundis, The Enchanted Realm of Rene Magritte (Co-Writer), Wanda, Daisy, & the Great Rapture (Director).
Sound Design credits beyond Ran's own works: Zoetrope by Exquisite Corpse Co. (NYT Critic’s Pick), Islands of Contentment (Hypokrit at CyberTank), Pink House by Madison Pollack (Dir. Jenna Rossman), Sound Sculpture with Project and Connect; Three Sisters and Lost Adults (Dir. Maggie Chino, The Brick); You Sound Like A Girl (Dir. Colleen Hughes). Set Design credits in NYC: Animals Out of Papers (by Rajiv Joseph), July House (Fringe NYC 2015), Ruins (by Hope Rehak), Echo, and more.
Ran is also a freelance graphic designer especially for theatre and film who’s worked with Downtown Alliance, En Garde Arts, the Tank, Rattlestick, and more. Past visual arts projects include Art Takes Times Square, Stories of the Creative (SEE.ME), Dacia Gallery (Times Square Arts Centre), Spiegel Me (Installation at Fountains Foundation, Columbia College, Chicago).
Artistic Director of THE ARCTIC GROUP
