Creative Team


Rick Lombardo

Rick Lombardo Rick Lombardo served as the Artistic Director at San Jose Repertory Theatre for six seasons. Productions include The Snow Queen, (co-writer) which was a featured selection at the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival and had multiple productions around the world including its New England Premiere at New Rep; Game On by Tony Taccone and Dan Hoyle (Best New Play TBA Awards 2014); and The Death of the Novel (starring Vincent Kartheiser), Disconnect, God of Carnage, A Christmas Carol and Spring Awakening, The Dresser, Black Pearl Sings!, The Weir, and As You Like It. Rick was the Producing Artistic Director of the New Repertory Theatre, and received the Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence from the Boston Theatre Critics Association in 2009. At New Rep his award-winning productions include Sweeney Todd, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ragtime, Waiting for Godot and The Weir. His world premiere of Bill W. and Dr. Bob enjoyed an extended run off-Broadway.

Rick holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and an MFA in Stage Direction from the Boston University College of the Arts. Currently he is Chair and Artistic Director of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University, where he is an Associate Professor of Directing and Acting.

In directing Albatross, Rick strove to create a visceral, evocative theatrical space which would take the listener deep into the Mariner's world, a story that begins in a realistic context, but becomes more and more supernatural and hallucinatory as the Mariner journeys on. He chose relatively simple theatrical tools to reinforce the text and the solo actor without overwhelming either. The physical elements -- some rope, a trunk, some tattered sailcloth -- are intentionally simple and prosaic but through image and light they are transformed to become the complex canvas that helps tell the tale of the Mariner's journey. Lombardo created the sound and music design to provide an emotional and expressionistic soundscape that reinforces the physical and metaphysical journey of the Ancient Mariner.

Rick Lombard says he was drawn to this story because of its deep themes of the glory of nature, our own capacities for thoughtless destruction, and our responsibility to be better stewards of this world and its natural riches – a timeless story that is vital for all of us to hear.