Ryder Thornton is a theatre artist and scholar who has directed over 50 productions at venues throughout the US and abroad, including devised and site-specific theatre. His work includes translations, adaptations, and original plays. He is the author of Transfiguring Tragedy: Schopenhauer, Stirner, and Nietzsche in Eugene O’Neill’s Early Plays (Routledge Press, 2024), which he worked on at Studio in the Woods.

His articles and reviews have appeared in the Eugene O’Neill Review, and he regularly attends national and international conferences. He recently translated and adapted Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid for the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival. Recent directing credits include Two Elizas by Jenny Mercein, Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, Melancholy Play, Antigone translated by Anne Carson, and Machinal, which received A Big Easy Award for Best University Production. He holds an MFA from Temple University, a Ph.D. from UCSB, and received additional training from American Conservatory Theatre and SITI Company. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, the Dramatist Guild, and an alumnus of Directors Lab West. He teaches courses in theater studies and performance at Tulane.