RICARDO FRAYHA
producer

Ricardo Frayha is cultural manager and producer. Based in Berlin, he is Production Manager at the Berliner Festspiele since June 2022. Born in Poços de Caldas, MG, Brazil, in 1985, he holds a degree of Master of Arts (2010) from the University of Leeds, in England. 

 

He started his professional career with Brazilian theatre director Gerald Thomas in the tetralogy project Asfaltaram a Terra (2006), and then alongside producers Ricardo Muniz Fernandes and Matthias Pees as executive producer in several international creations in Brazil in collaboration between foreign directors and local artists, between others: O Anjo Negro de Nelson Rodrigues com a Lembrança de uma Revolução: A Missão de Heiner Müller (2006), directed by Frank Castorf; Chácara Paraíso (2007), by Stefan Kaegi and Lola Arias; the opera The Flying Dutchman (2007), at Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, and O Trem Fantasma (2007) in São Paulo, both directed by Christoph Schlingensief; the local staging of Super Night Shot (2007), by the German-British collective Gob Squad; Paraíso sem Consolação (2008), by Constanza Macras; Die Hamletmaschine (2009), by and with Dimiter Gotscheff; the project X Apartments (2009), idealised by Matthias Lilienthal and featuring works in private apartments by Rodrigo Garcia, Richard Maxwell (New York City Players), Nurkan Erpulat, Simon Will (Gob Squad), Enrique Diaz, Daniela Thomas, between others.

 

During that same period the production office was responsible for inviting and producing several international guest performances in Brazil such as Big in Bombay (2007), by Constanza Macras | DorkyPark; Die Perser (2008), production from the Deutsches Theater Berlin, directed by Dimiter Gotscheff; Epître Aux Jeunes Acteurs (2009), by Olivier Py, from the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe; Secrets of Mankind (2010), by Akaji Maro with the Japanese butoh company Dairakudakan; Ocupação Mapa Teatro: Micropolítica y Poéticas (2011), a retrospective program by Colombian company Mapa Teatro; Te Haré Invencible Con Mi Derrota (2010), by Angélica Liddell; The Three Sisters (2010), directed by Wajdi Mouawad, to name a few.

 

Since 2009, he has established a fruitful partnership with Robert Wilson, being one of the initiators of the Brazilian tour of Quartett (2009), directed by Wilson and starring French screen icon Isabelle Huppert, in São Paulo and Porto Alegre. The collaboration was followed by the selection to participate in the International Summer Program (2011) hold by Wilson at the Watermill Center in NY, and then by the tours to Brazil of The Threepenny Opera (2012) and Lulu (2012), both productions by the Berliner Ensemble, as well as the staging of The Lady from the Sea (2013) having for the first time a Brazilian cast directed by Robert Wilson. He has served as director of production of Garrincha – a street opera (2016), commissioned by Sesc, representing the first original Brazilian creation by Robert Wilson, as well as for the local guest performances of John Cage’s Lecture on Nothing (2017), directed and performed by Robert Wilson. 

 

Starting in 2011, based in Berlin, he was for five years the producer responsible for the national and international tours of the dance-theatre company Constanza Macras I DorkyPark. In this period was responsible for fourteen productions of the company’s repertoire, counting over seventy tours in nearly thirty countries: besides all over Europe, he produced tours in South Korea, China, India, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Mozambique, South Africa, Argentina, between other countries, frequently collaborating with the Goethe Institut and with main German theatres and festivals such as HAU (Hebbel-am-Ufer), Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Maxim Gorki Theater, Thalia Theater, Kampnagel, Hellerau – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste, Theatre Freiburg, tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf, Tanz im August, Tanzplattform Deutschland, between others as well as international ones such as the Seoul Arts Perfoming Festival, Guangdong Dance Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Zürcher Theatre Spektakel, Théâtre Forum Meyrin, LAC - Lugano Arte e Cultura, Romaeuropa Festival, Dansens Hus Stockholm, Dansens Hus Oslo, BIPOD (Beirut International Platform of Dance), Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival, Attakkalari India Dance Biennial, Dance Umbrella Johannesburg, MAC Créteil, Le Quartz, La Filature, Serbian National Theater, Trafó Budapest, Nová scéna Praha, Théâtre de Liège, Tramway Glasgow, FIBA (Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires), to name a few.

 

Between 2015 and 2021 he was the director and head of production at the production agency prod.art.br, alongside producer Ricardo Muniz Fernandes, where he has served as director of production, curator and initiator to several international performances in Brazil as well as local creations, such as Anohni and the Ohnos (2015), performance bringing together the singer and musician Anohni (former Antony and the Johnsons), and butoh icon Yoshito Ohno, celebrating his late father Kazuo Ohno; Les Mémoires d’un Seigneur (2016), directed by Olivier Dubois with 50 local performers at Cidade das Artes, in Rio de Janeiro; The Maids (2017) by Polish director Radosław Rychcik and Das Lied von der Erde (2017), directed by Yoshi Oida, both with Brazilian cast and crew; the exhibition Living Theatre, presente! (2017), celebrating the NY based collective, where the performance Electric Awakening took place, created by the Living Theatre members together with Brazilian artists; also the cycle of workshops Strike Your Own Pose (2017) by Vogue legend Jose Gutiérrez Xtravaganza and workshops and lectures with Russian director Anatoli Vassiliev, in São Paulo. Still as director of production he presented La Despedida (2018), by Mapa Teatro, and Estado Vegetal (2018), by Manuela Infante, both at festival Mirada, in Santos. He was director of production and responsible for the Brazilian performances of Five Days in March (re-creation) (2018), directed by Toshiki Okada / chelfitsch.

 

In 2019 he was the director of production for the William Forsythe: Choreographic Objects solo exhibition at Sesc Pompeia presenting large scale existent and original works by Forsythe. He was also the producer responsible for the Brazilian performances of Flexn (2019), production by the Park Avenue Armory, a collaboration between Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray and seminal director Peter Sellars, presenting a work for the first time in Brazil. 

 

Since 2016 he is also responsible for Felipe Hirsch's Ultralíricos international productions, managing the company performances abroad to festivals and venues in Germany, Portugal, Chile, among others. Also with Hirsch, he produced Lazarus (2019) and Língua Brasileira (2020), collaboration with Brazilian musician and composer Tom Zé, as well as Philip Glass’ Orphée (2022) directed by Hirsch at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon.

 

In 2021 he was the production manager for Florentina Holzinger’s production A Divine Comedy, commissioned by the Ruhrtriennale and for its guest performances at the Volksbühne Berlin, Staatstheater Kassel, Tanzquartier Wien and deSingel in Antwerp.

  

In parallel to his professional career he took part in residencies and workshops worldwide such as: the International Summer Arts Program (2011), coordinated by Robert Wilson at The Watermill Center, in NY; the Biennale College Teatro, as part of the Venice Biennale, with Jan Lauwers | Needcompany (2014), and Willem Dafoe (2016); was also involved at the École Nomade (2015) two weeks residency led by Ariane Mnouchkine and members of the Théâtre du Soleil, at the Bergmancenter in the Island of Fårö, Sweden. Also attended butoh workshops with Yoshito Ohno (2017), at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio in Yokohama, Japan; as well as the LAB Escénico workshops with Krystian Lupa (2018) at the Festival Santiago a Mil, in Chile. He attended The Visitors Programme of the Federal Republic of Germany (2022) under the invitation of the German Federal Foreign Office, taking place under the frame of the festival Theatertreffen; he was also a member at the Producer's Academy (2022) in Brussels, alongside 19 fellow producers from around the globe during the festival Kunstenfestivaldesarts.