ABOUT THE ARTISTRY

Sean Patrick Ryan is an actor, writer, and teaching artist from Buffalo, NY whose work explores the intersection of performance, pedagogy, and social change. Their original plays have been produced at the Rochester Fringe Festival, The University of Arkansas, and Western Kentucky University, with performing credits including Olney Theatre, Alleyway Theatre, TheatreSquared, and Second Generation Theatre. Currently an MFA Acting candidate at the University of Arkansas, Sean combines their academic training with a passionate commitment to creating theatre that bridges divides and illuminates overlooked narratives.

Sean is an actor combatant with SAFD certificates in Rapier & Dagger, Knife, and Unarmed Combat.

As a creator and performer, Sean gravitates toward projects that challenge traditional boundaries, with a particular passion for developing new works, especially those that amplify LGBTQ+ voices and explore pressing social issues. After completing three levels of training with Leigh Fondakowski and Moises Kaufman, Sean is certified in Moment Work - a devising technique that focuses on theatrical elements as genisis for storytelling. Sean has also presented at national conferences on research into the methodology of Intersectional Collaboration and assisted on workshops centered around movement for the actor.

In the classroom, Sean enjoys a Socratic approach that empowers students to discover their own artistic voice. From university theatre appreciation courses to elementary school workshops, they strive to create spaces where personal expression and critical thinking can flourish together. Through this collaborative approach to arts education, students are encouraged to explore theatre not just as an art form, but as a means of dissecting and processing the world around them.

WHY I DO WHAT I Do

Theatre is one of our last remaining spaces where we can collectively experience our grief, hopes, and reflections. My artistic practice centers on empathy in action – creating work that invites us back to community through stories that are both timely and deeply inquisitive. I am committed to illuminating people and identities who have historically been excluded from our narratives, exploring all of their nuance and beauty. Each project I undertake is driven by a desire to understand the human beneath the circumstances, descriptors, and judgments.

Whether performing, writing, directing, or teaching, I aim to contribute to a reimagined artistic landscape – one that breaks down barriers of access and offers vital space for learning, meeting, and sharing in the stories of our humanity. My practice is a love letter to all those who have touched my heart: the fierce women who raised me, my queer chosen family, and the friends who have left too soon. I believe in the collective power of artists working together to create meaningful change through storytelling and shared experience, fostering what Jürgen Habermas called "the public sphere" – where art becomes a catalyst for critical discourse and community building.

As a human, I revel in community, literature, and music. An avid audiophile and live music fanatic, I find bliss on a dance floor. I enjoy the smell of old books, miniature dachshunds with arcane names, and perusing thrift stores with a comically large iced coffee in hand.