Rick Stemm is an Auckland-based playwright originally from Madison, WI and San Antonio, TX. Currently a Creative Director, Rick is a long time game writer and game designer as well as a playwright, plus fight choreographer and martial artist, combining interactivity, technology, and movement in his shows.
You've Ruined a Perfectly Good Mystery sold out its debut run in Madison and went on to the New York International Fringe Festival, as well as enjoying other performances around the States. His pantomime Open Sesame! set the box office record for San Antonio's perennial favorite Overtime Theater. And his Heroes Must Die was the first transmedia performance to combine a full stage show with an actual video game. He also has a suite of short plays available. Many feature large casts well-suited to school productions.
Rick has won several awards for plays, short plays, and choreography, as well as being nominated for the prestigious Lanford Wilson prize for emerging playwrights. As a mentor at the world-renowned creative youth development program SAY Sí, Rick tried to pass his love of storytelling and collaborative art to his students.
Transmedia is Rick's specialty, combining performance art with video, game-like challenges, spectacular fight scenes, and audience interactivity in his plays. They are not boring.