Staff & Board

Rick has worked as an award-winning actor, director, filmmaker, and arts manager with more than three decades of experience, formerly based in Washington, DC.

Since relocating to Richmond and joining the leadership team at Virginia Repertory Theatre, he has directed Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (for which he received an RTCC Award for Best Direction of a Musical), Murder on the Orient Express, Waitress, Misery, Martha Mitchell Calling, After December, and most recently adapted and directed VA Rep’s A Christmas Carol.

He received a 2018 Helen Hayes Award for his direction of Lela & Co. and a 2020 Helen Hayes Award nomination for his direction of Agnes of God, both for Factory 449. Other directing credits include Dizzy Miss Lizzie’s Roadside Revue’s The Brontes (New York Musical Theatre Festival), Reykjavik (Rorschach Theatre), Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight (WSC Avant Bard), Driving Miss Daisy featuring Karen Grassle (Riverside Center for the Performing Arts), Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook (Adventure Theatre MTC), Dead Man Walking (American University) and Closet Land (Factory 449).

As an actor, he has performed Off-Broadway and regionally, receiving a Helen Hayes Award for his turn as Hedwig in Signature Theatre’s production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as well as nominations for his work in Angels in America (Signature Theatre), Me and Jezebel (MetroStage) and Oliver! (Adventure Theatre MTC).

His debut film, signage, which he wrote, directed, and produced, has screened in over 60 film festivals worldwide, receiving 6 film festival awards and was subsequently licensed by MTV’s LOGO Channel.

He is a founder and the current Producing Artistic Director of Factory 449, the recipient of multiple Helen Hayes Awards, including the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company, and the Executive Director of the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive (WAPAVA).

As Virginia Rep’s Artistic Director, he provides leadership of our programming, including our strategic planning processes. He is also our key liaison with the national theatre industry.

804-783-1688 ext. 1262

Schuller boasts more than 20 years of experience managing the operations of complex, multi- venue and multi-disciplinary organizations and has produced and presented live, touring and televised events that included collaborations with The Kennedy Center and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Known as much for his collaborative nature as his creativity, he has worked on various projects with celebrities such as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Tina Fey, Catherine O’Hara, Bob Martin, and Dave Thomas.

Most recently, Schuller served as the executive director and producer for Randolph Entertainment, which presented Teatro ZinZanni and Cabaret ZaZou in partnership with Broadway in Chicago, from 2018-23. He led the planning, construction and launch of a unique new theater in a “forgotten” space that was rediscovered during a hotel renovation that revealed the original grand space inside the historic 1926 building in the Chicago Loop.

Schuller also served as executive director and producer for The Second City Canada from 2005-17, where he supervised the planning and construction of its Mercer Street home in Toronto and planned or led the construction of venues in Toronto, Cleveland and Las Vegas.

“Virginia Rep’s exceptional reputation and the diversity and quality of its offerings immediately appealed to me,” Schuller said. “I am humbled to have the opportunity to contribute to the incredible legacy the organization has built over the past 70-plus years and its impact on the arts community in Richmond, Central Virginia and beyond.”

804-783-1688 ext. 1116