Professor in the Practice - Co-chair of Design at David Geffen School of Drama. Head of Set Design and Set Design Advisor at Yale Repertory Theatre
Born in Havana, Cuba, raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Broadway: Lempicka (Tony Nomination); Suffs; Jagged Little Pill (Tony Nomination); The Thanksgiving Play; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Indecent; The Gin Game (Sets and Costumes - starring James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson); The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (2012 Tony Award Best Musical Revival); The People in the Picture (Studio 54); Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change (also Royal National Theater London - 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Musical/2006 London’s Evening Standard Award for Best Musical); TopDog/UnderDog (2002 Pulitzer Award Best Play-also Royal Court, London); Elaine Stritch at Liberty (also West End’s Old Vic & National Tour); Parade (Hal Prince director, Tony Nomination); Bells Are Ringing; Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk (also National Tours and Japan); The Tempest.
Upcoming: What We Did Before Our Moth Days, written by Wally Shawn, and directed by Andre Gregory.
Recent: Florencia en el Amazonas (Metropolitan Opera); Carmen (Glyndebourne Festival); Genet’s Les Paravents (Odéon Théâtre de l’Europe – Paris); The Merchant of Venice (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh Scotland); La Ronde (Estates Theater National Theater Prague); Mes Frères written by Pascal Rambert; La Dame aux Camélias both for Théâtre National de la Colline Paris; King Lear, A Doll’s House and Strindberg’s The Father (both in repertory), The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Winter’s Tale all directed by Arin Arbus for Theater For A New Audience; Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Giovanni directed by Ron Daniels for Santa Fe Opera; Grounded written by George Brant, directed by Julie Taymor for Public Theater; The Library directed by film director Steven Soderbergh for Public Theater. For Avignon Festival (France): La Mouette (Cour D’Honneur, Palais des Papes); Jan Karski, Mon Nom Est Fiction (Opera Theatre and Teatr Polski, Warsaw). World Premiere of Il Postino (Sets and Costumes) with Placido Domingo for Los Angeles Opera, also at Theatre du Chatelet Paris, Theater an der Wien Vienna, PBS Telecast; World Premiere of Philip Glass’ Appomatox for San Francisco Opera, directed by Robert Woodruff; Abigail’s Party (Oslo National Theater, Norway); The Dead New Adaptation by Frank McGuiness and Othello both for Abbey Theater, Dublin; World Premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s A Coffin in Egypt (Sets and Costumes) for Houston Grand Opera; The Lost Highway (Sets and Costumes) directed by Diane Paulus for London’s English National Opera/Young Vic.
Riccardo Hernández has designed over 300 productions at most leading Regional Theaters and Opera across the US and Internationally. Over thirty productions at New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater: The America Play; One Flea Spare; Noise/Funk; Mother Courage(starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline) both directed by George C. Wolfe; (also collaborations with: Diane Paulus, Lear deBessonet, Jo Bonney, Mary Zimmerman, Daniel Sullivan, Mark Brokaw, Kathleen Marshall, Mark Lamos, Ron Daniels, Graciela Daniele, others), BAM, Lincoln Center Theater, Atlantic Theater (collaborations with film director Ethan Cohen), Second Stage (Let Me Down Easy written and performed by Anna Deavere Smith, also PBS Great Performances); NYTW, MTC, others.
Regional: American Repertory Theater (collaborations with Diane Paulus, Ron Daniels, Robert Woodruff, Janos Szasz, Arthur Nauzyciel, Robert Brustein, Leonard Foglia, Liz Diamond), Guthrie, Goodman, Taper, La Jolla, Steppenwolf, McCarter, Yale Repertory Theater, others. Opera: Don Giovanni (Diane Paulus director, Chicago Opera); Charles Wuorinen’s Haroun (Mark Lamos director, New York City Opera); Amistad (George C. Wolfe director, Lyric Opera of Chicago); Houston Grand Opera, others. Also: Festival Automne Paris, Orleans CDN France, Teatro Real de Madrid, Det Norske Teatret, Oslo Norway, MXAT (Moscow Art Theater), Singapore International Festival of Arts.
Numerous Awards and Nominations: OBIE Award Sustained Excellence of Scenic Design; Henry Hewes Design Award Outstanding Scenic Design; Princess Grace Statue Award; Princess Grace Grant, Drama Desks, Connecticut Critics Circle, Helen Hayes, Audelco, American Theater Wing, Boston Elliot Norton Award, Jeff Award, others.
Master of Fine Arts Yale School of Drama 1992