Ricardo splits his writing time between his stoop garden in NYC and his window garden in LA. His first play, the story of the WWI Christmas Truce In Fields Where They Lay (dir. Brad Raimondo) was hailed by the NY Times as “gripping” and “moving drama.” Since that debut, Sundance Institute selected Ricardo for their Inaugural Writer’s Intensive and his Alan Turing Biopic, The Tender Peel, won him an Alfred P. Sloan Grant. He is also a new member of the Emerging Writer's Group at the Public Theater and recipient of two grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
After a workshop at the Public, On the Grounds of Belonging, his play about racially segregated gay bars in 1950s Houston, Texas, will have its World Premiere at Long Wharf Theatre this season, previews starting October 3rd. It's the first in a trilogy that follows a pair of lovers, one black and one white, from the 1950s to the present day. Writing credits include the drag ball musical Neon Baby (book writer/co-lyricist, Pregones 2013), Inside Out (commissioned by Pregones to address anti-gay bullying), Ashé, his Puerto Rican style two brothers myth (UP Theater, 2013; Repertorio, 2016; Labyrinth, 2017), his transgender family drama La casa de Ocaso (Asunción Playwriting Competition, 2010), his BDSM drama R.A.C.K., and his short film Losses and Gains about gay male body image. Works in progress include his comedic play about cultural scapegoating, Name & Blame, Inc., and his play about the cutthroat world of women in academia, The Judgment of Athena. Upcoming projects include a holiday remount of In Fields Where They Lay, and continued work on The Belonging Trilogy. |