ORIETTA CHRISPINO (Artistic Director) 

Orietta Crispino (she/her) is a New York-based theater artist, director, writer, and performer, and the Founding Artistic Director of THEATERLAB. Born in Italy, she is a graduate of the prestigious Piccolo Teatro School in Milan, where she trained under legendary director Giorgio Strehler and Massimo Castri, and later taught acting and directing.

Her artistic work is characterized by a rigorous, physical, and visually poetic style, developed at the intersection of European stagecraft and American experimental practice. She creates deeply personal performances that function as immersive rituals, exploring autobiography, memory, and mythology through the lenses of food, fashion, language, and inherited ritual. Her early formative training in the United States included participation in the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, where she investigated questions of theatrical style and cross-cultural translation alongside a generation of notable directors.

Her recent work includes the acclaimed solo trilogy Let Me Cook for You, which she wrote and performed at Theaterlab under the direction of Liza Cassidy. Described as “a collage of inherited myths and apocryphal histories,” the piece invited audiences into an intimate, multi-sensory experience of cooking, storytelling, and communal reflection. It was hailed for its “beautrifully rehearsed spontaneity” (3Views) and as “an evening of bonding, learning, and exploring” of the standard solo show (FrontRowCenter). Other notable productions at Theaterlab include Three Sisters Come and Go and Snow in the Living Room, a retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White.

Her extensive directing portfolio includes a three-year project in Trieste dedicated to the plays of Pirandello’s Italian contemporaries, and Passport No. 23.922, a piece she wrote and directed on the life of photographer and activist Tina Modotti. Her interdisciplinary collaborations include the performance piece Camera Obscura with photographer Vibeke Jensen, presented at MoMA PS1 in New York, and toured to Bogota, Columbia and Trieste, Italy.

As a performer, her credits The Library (Crossing the Line Festival, FIAF); In the House of My Beloved (Women’s Project); The Living Room Series (HERE); Dancing, not Dead (The Internationalists); Dante (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), Snow in the Living Room, Let Me Cook For You (Theaterlab), and numerous site-specific projects of Tamilla Woodard and Ana Margineanu (PopUP Theatrics) .

In 2006, she co-founded Theaterlab. After seven years nurturing a downtown community of experimental artists, she successfully relocated the organization in 2013 to its current home in Manhattan’s Garment District. Under her sustained leadership for nearly two decades, Theaterlab has served as an indispensable incubator for thousands of artists. Crispino has also pioneered a powerful model of civic practice through the flagship program Round The Block!™ – free, promenade-style performances that activate public and private spaces to reveal the untold histories and creative fabric of neighborhoods. This program actively cultivates and engages civically curious audiences, framing daily life itself as a work of art.

Her deep dedication to supporting artists at every stage of development is further embodied in Theaterlab’s curated residency programs, including Mothers Myths Monsters, Hotel New Work, The Gallery Series, and the new yearlong Backstitch Residency. These initiatives provide essential resources, space, and community – reflecting her foundational commitment to meeting the practical and creative needs of artists.

Her work reflects an enduring commitment to creative research, interdisciplinary exploration, and building a resilient, engaged, and radically welcoming artistic community.