Rikki Tarascas
In the late 80's Rikki worked as a performer and director with N.W. based theatre companies Fusion and Kaboodle, which were praised for their innovation and visual & physical flair. After the Edinburgh Festival, Fusion toured (ACGB funded) throughout England and abroad to rave reviews in the national press.
With an eclectic approach to his work, Rikki went on to work as a writer and director for a range of theatre and performance companies with different house styles and artistic objectives. Simultaneously he progressed his own training by exploring numerous arts-training systems. These include: Lecoq & Gaulier (exploring a more European tradition of performance); improvisation with Keith Johnson; the Physical Voice with Zigmund Molik of Grotowski's theatre laboratorium and contact release dance with Steve Paxton He also completed the feature-film development program at The National Film and Television School.
With twenty five years of experience as a director, Rikki is also a qualified teacher. He has taught both full and part-time cross-arts disciplines and directed productions for a number of drama schools. These include Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre, Crewe & Alsager College in Cheshire and Salford University. He taught both stage and screen acting for Italia Conti Theatre Academy (BA & Performing Arts course - full time) and Mountview Theatre Academy, where he taught screen acting and co—produced summer-schools - bringing in outside professionals to shoot a number of short student films. He also recently taught at Brunel University.
Past work ranges from Stand-Up to Shakespeare, site-specific, spectacle, live-performance, fashion-shows and film. He became Director in Residence for the large-scale site-specific events company Welfare State International, Engineers of the Imagination and The Director of Performance at The Eden Project in Cornwall, for whom he wrote and directed a number of very successful shows.
After completing a post-grad at Bournemouth Film School he made several short films and music videos (credits include Musical Youth, Chicane and Sanctuary Records). His film "Rocka and the Angel" - made with funding from the National Lottery - was later commissioned to be rewritten as a touring theatre production with eight songs. It toured with ACGB funding. In 2002 he won The Alfred Hitchcock Script Award for his film "Courier". Screenings have included Cannes, Raindance and Brighton film festivals (tarascas.co.uk for press & further info). Rikki is currently nearing the completion of the feature film "Carmen's Kiss", which he is producing for Albion Films PLC.
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