“The Alabama Shakespeare Festival will commission 22 plays in the next five years, with more than half of the commissions set to go to female playwrights and playwrights of color.”
- The New York Times

“…the story flow[s] with simplicity and honesty, even as it throws more unexpected wildcards at us…This results in an often-unexpected quality in theater productions – the excitement of not knowing, as surprise and spontaneity dominate interactions…If this is the start of the Rick Dildine era, area theatergoers can only hope it is a sign of the entertainment to come.”
- The Montgomery Advertiser

“Dildine has expanded the festival with more programs and more community participation. But as a director, his ravishing production of ‘Twelfth Night’ in 2013 and his giddy ‘Midsummer” in 2016 both shone from the inside out, illuminating the audience along with the poetry. His direction of the disturbing psychological drama ‘Never the Sinner’…proves he can keep surprising us.”
- The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“…audiences need artists who try new things to whet our appetites, artists who have confidence in their own vision and in their audiences’ brains and nerve. That’s the kind of artist Dildine is.”
- The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“When it comes to diversifying the pool of talented actors and actresses…Shakespeare St. Louis’ commitment has been obvious…But the organization, under the direction of Rick Dildine, has outdone themselves with their latest play…where not one, not two, but three of the principal roles are acted by African-American women.”
- The St. Louis American

“Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, under sure, decisive direction by Rick Dildine, gets all the details right and adds an extra dollop of fanciful humor and visual interest with clever choreography, sets, and costumes.”
- KDHX

“Dildine’s take [is] enchanting and consistently entertaining…Dildine’s use of music, in the tradition of the play, is imaginatively employed and bolsters his lively pace.”
- Ladue News

Awards

Zelda Fichandler Award (finalist), 2019
”Stand Out” Award for Diversity in American Theatre - Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, 2019
Favorite Director – St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2017
Arts Organization of the Year – Missouri Arts Council, 2017
Outstanding Director, A Midsummer Night’s Dream – St. Louis Theatre Circle Awards, 2016
Excellence in the Arts – Arts & Education Council of Greater St. Louis, 2015
Theatre Artist of the Year – St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2014
“40 Under 40” – St. Louis Business Journal, 2013
Exemplary Community Achievement Award – Missouri Humanities Council, 2012
Top 100 People Who are Re-Shaping the City – St. Louis Magazine, 2012
A-List: Best Newcomer – St. Louis Magazine, 2010
National Directing Fellowship – Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival, 2000-01