Austin Tichenor is co-managing partner of the Reduced Shakespeare Company and has performed with them around the world, off-Broadway, in London’s West End, in the PBS version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), and at such theaters as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, American Repertory Theatre, the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. He’s the co-author of nine Complete (abridged) stage comedies, the half-hour film The Ring Reduced for UK’s Channel 4, the half-hour pilot The Week Reduced for TBS, the six episode Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show for the BBC World Service, the comic memoir How The Bible Changed Our Lives (Mostly For The Better) for all e-book platforms, the irreverent reference book Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired (abridged) for Hyperion Press, and Pop-Up Shakespeare (illustrated by Jennie Maizels), published by Candlewick Press in the US and Walker Books in the UK & Australia. He also produces and hosts the weekly Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast, which was named one of Broadway World’s Top Ten Podcasts for Theatre Fans.

He’s starred in the original productions of the nine RSC shows he co-wrote, performed with both the Oakland Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and acted in both the midwest premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre and the world premiere of In The Garden: A Darwinian Love Story with the Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company. On TV, Austin played recurring roles on 24, Alias, Felicity, Ally McBeal, and The Practice, and guest starred as Guys In Ties on The West Wing, The X-Files, ER, The Mentalist, Nip/Tuck, Gilmore Girls, and on many other hours of episodic television. He’s also performed his own material many times on NPR and the BBC.

A lyricist and adaptor, Austin is an alumnus of the BMI Musical Theatre workshop and has written over a dozen plays and musicals for young audiences. His full-length one-act Dancing on the Ceiling (an adaptation of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”) and adaptation of Frankenstein are both published by Broadway Play Publishing. He directed the world premiere of his adaptation of The New York Times bestselling author Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair in 2016, and Twelfth Night for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company in 2018.

Austin is a fifth-generation Californian who was born on the 54th anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake and the 185th anniversary of Paul Revere’s Ride, which makes him older than he looks but short for his weight. He’s a member of the Dramatists Guild, has a BA in History and Theatre from UC Berkeley and an MFA from Boston University. He currently lives in Chicago with his improviser and writer wife Dee Ryan, their two kids, and too many cats.