About

Christopher Ryan (he/they) has really always been an educator, and has known from early childhood that he was a performer at heart. From teaching elementary students as a middle schooler, to teaching adult professionals in masterclasses and coachings, his experience as an educator spans over two decades. Having sung his first solo at the tender age of 5, Christopher knew the stage was where he were meant to be and what he was meant to teach about.

After finishing his MFA in Acting at Regent University in 2007, Christopher taught intro to theatre, speech and costume design classes for two community colleges in the Orlando Florida area, while also working as an actor and fight director with the Orlando Rep, and dancing as a member of the modern company: Emotions Dance.

The following year, Christopher moved to Germany, where they continued their engagement as an educator, and also worked extensively as a performer (both in straight and musical theatre) throughout the European continent and in several languages, for the next eleven years.

Some highlights of Christopher’s time in Europe were: directing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged for the Rover Rep theatre in Hamburg, touring the continent playing roles like: Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Tom in The Glass Menagerie, and Anthony in Sweeney Todd, playing Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in German, choreographing the original German language production of Bridges of Madison County, and playing dream roles, like: Emcee in Cabaret, Caiaphas and Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Mark in RENT, and the title character in Jekyll & Hyde.

In the Summers from 2011-2014, Christopher was the Director of Musical Theatre and the Dance and Combat instructor for the "International Performing Arts Institute“, where he, together with the other faculty, trained young, talented and promising American Opera and Musical Theatre students to prepare them to work in the international Theatre market.

In the fall of 2016, Christopher finished recording his first album, Holy Night, an album of traditional Christmas songs, which was released in November of 2016.

During Christopher’s time in Vienna, Austria, in addition to playing in the company of the hit musical Sister Act, they taught for several schools, including Performing Center of Austria, the premiere training facility for Musical Theatre pre-professionals in all of Austria.

In 2019, as the demand for coaching, both private and in university masterclass settings, continued to grow, Christopher decided to make the move back to the US.

After relocating to the Tampa, FL area, in addition to coaching, Christopher was a company member with the Theatre for Young Audiences company: Creative Arts Theatre. In Christopher’s season with the company, they designed costumes and sets, ran point on the transition from live to video content creation, and performed in various projects (including the one-actor wordless clowning play: Balloonacy), as the company found ways to continue engaging children and families with storytelling, throughout the pandemic. Christopher also performed in several cabaret performances and several mainstage shows as a company member with Opera Tampa.

Christopher is grateful for the two years he spent as a faculty member at NKU School of the Arts (SOTA)! In the fall of 2023, Christopher directed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, to excellent reception from administration and the community, led a faculty seminar on the implementation of success practices in the classroom, taught Theatre Appreciation, and continued his academic advising work.

As a part of NKU’s Dance ‘24, Christopher premiered Verbindung, a modern dance duet they created as an exploration of connection, taught Musical Theatre Dance, II for a second time, and launched Life as an Artist, a brand new course they created for the sophomores across all 7 degree tracks which addressed issues of self-worth, mental health, self-care, wellness, self-advocacy, and goal and boundary setting, as an artist.

Christopher kept busy in the summer of 2024! They served as a Panelist contributing to the selection of choreographers for the third installment of the Synergy Dance Series in the greater Cincinnati, OH area. They performed in the third installment of OUTLoud with Opera Tampa, and for the second year in a row as a guest soloist with the Lobby Lounge Cabaret Series at the Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center. Christopher also taught for the CCM Musical Theatre Workshop, Miami Valley Ballet Theatre, and for Mutual Dance’s summer study programs.

Christopher is excited to announce that as of the fall of 2024 they have joined Rochester Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre!