ARA

Ryan attended the University of Northern Iowa to study theatre with directing emphasis, and moved to St. Louis in 2012. He has appeared with New Line in High Fidelity, Next to Normal (as well as Insight Theatre), Rent, Hands on a Hardbody, Jerry Springer the Opera, Atomic and in the title role of the American regional premiere of Cry-Baby. He also appeared with Stray Dog Theatre, as Moritz in Spring Awakening. Ryan has directed Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me for R-S Theatrics, as well as No Exit, Stuff Happens, A Funny Thing Happened..., The Pillowman and others. He recently founded Theatre Lab in 2013, which has co-produced four 24-hour play festivals, as well as produced The Sunset Limited, The Pillowman, their latest radio play series, Labora-Story, Closer and Lieutenant of Inishmore. Ryan has appeared as an actor in several regional commercials as well as the St. Louis independent film Four Color Eulogy. He joined the Shift Films team in 2017 making Ara his directorial debut and is working with Shift as the director of their upcoming short film Salty Dog and their much anticipated documentary about the Lemp family and the alleged suicide of Elsa Lemp. He is honored to have been asked to be a part of Shift Films and is looking forward to wowing film junkies through their thoughtful/artistic mission for years to come.