Childsplay Names Ricky Araiza as New Associate Artistic Director

Ricky Araiza, who became a Childsplay ensemble member after graduating from Arizona State University in 2004, has been named Associate Artistic Director - Director of Artist and Community Initiatives.

Araiza's responsibilities include leading Childsplay's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Those initiatives focus, in part, on discovering, nurturing and stewarding relationships with underrepresented communities of artists, BIPOC communities in Childsplay audiences, and with new voices telling new stories to the community.

"Ricky is a multi-talented artist and leader who fully understands and appreciates the importance of diversity both on our stage and in our audiences," said Childsplay Managing Director Steve Martin. "He brings valuable perspectives to our management team and to the communities we serve."

Arizona-born Araiza first took the stage in Childsplay's 2004 production of The New Kid. In 2009 he stepped away from professional work to study Physical Ensemble Based Theatre at Dell'Arte International in Blue Lake, CA. In 2017, he received his M.F.A. from Arizona State University.

He has also done work nationally with the Playwright's Center in Minneapolis, the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA and Su Teatro in Denver, CO. Araiza continues to work as a director, actor, and teaching artist throughout the Valley, also serving as Artistic Director of Teatro Bravo, a Latinx theatre company in Phoenix.

For more information about Childsplay, visit www.childsplayaz.org.