JONATHAN RIDER has been teaching and choreographing fights regionally, nationally, and internationally for 25 years. For the last 6 years he has been the fight director of numerous productions for the American Conservatory Theater ( Critic’s Circle Award for The Orphan of Zhao), and Theaterworks.

He was the Resident Fight Director for the San Francisco Opera for 12 years.

He has directed fights for Gran Teatre Del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain (Tristan and Isolde); Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy (Fanciulla Del West); Sante Fe Opera (including Maometto II, Wozzeck, Tosca), Los Angeles Opera, Pacific Resident Theater, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Berkeley Opera.

With The Crucible, in Oakland, he has directed the fights for the Fire Arts Festival productions of Romeo and Juliet, The Firebird, The Odyssey, and Dracul.

He first certified with the Society of American Fight Directors in 1989. He holds a current Entertainment Firearms Permit and a BA from Santa Clara University.