Welcome!
River von Waldron is a neurodivergent, multidisciplinary artist of the acting, singing, writing, composing, and visual arts variety. They love forest green, soup, planning, and collecting too many books they sometimes forget to read. They currently live on Lenape Land (Philadelphia) with their bunny, Fauna Twig.
Their purpose is to unite and embolden those around them through the revolution of theatre making. Their background in the musical, visual, and literary arts creates a broader sense of play and a profound depth of understanding for each theatrical piece they tackle. River is especially keen on working with pieces to do with memory, identity, and death. River is a tactile learner, and is passionate about doing and making. And they are especially skilled in and passionate about new play development, whether on the acting side or on the writing side, and they love to see the tangible impact they can have on a new piece.
Theatrical Realm– Acting, playwriting, composing, what have you.
River von Waldron received their BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of the Arts back in 2020. The acting techniques they have trained under include (but are not limited to) the techniques of the Rasaboxes, Chekhov, Hagen, and Laban. As for their singing, they have trained for over a decade in styles such as Folk, Pop/Rock, Punk, Classical, and, of course, Musical Theatre. They also love movement based work, having roots in Gymnastics and Cheerleading, as well as having had dance training in Ballet, Jazz, and Modern (and a little Tap).
River is also a composer and emerging playwright. They wrote Book, Lyrics, and are the Lead Composer for GHOST TOWN: The Musical, which will be premiering as a staged reading in the Polyphone Festival of New and Emerging Musicals, 2022. There is also some fun exciting news for their play coop: the lesbian chicken play coming up soon.
In collaboration with Red & Black, a musical co-conceived and co-written by Nick Hatcher and Sheridan Merrick, River wrote a song called “What Do You See” during its first development process. The song continued on with the show, which was developed in the Polyphone Festival of New and Emerging Musicals in 2020. River also helped develop a piece called Unorthodox Methods of Cosmic Flight through acting in the piece as well as contributing some monologues to the script. The piece was written by Amir Gad and directed by Anastassia Vertjanova, and premiered in the 2021 Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
River is sensitive to the world around them and passionate as a forest fire. They approach every piece with thought, vigor, and soft hands.
Music
In 2020, River founded local Philly-based band milkmouth, who writes music with folk and grunge influences. They have plans to release music in the near future.
River also plans to release solo music in the near future. Stay tuned.
River is a musical theatre composer, having composed GHOST TOWN: The Musical, as well as the 10 minute musical The Things You Think About Before You Fall Asleep. They also have another musical, While In Your Orbit, in the works
Writing
From 2020 to 2021, River had the opportunity to combine their loves of writing, performing, and sleep wellness when they worked for the start up company called WAVE Sleep. The goal of WAVE was to make bedtime more fun. From the launch of the app until its closing, River wrote and guided via livestream 90+ completely original and unique 40 minute long guided sleep meditations. They were the #3 performing sleep guide on the app.
River also co-founded and hosts a weekly online writing group called Wretched Poets Society, fostering a space for emerging writers to grow their craft.
Visual Arts
River is also an illustrator and painter. Their favorite mediums include: colored pencils, oil pastels, gouache, charcoal, and drawing digitally with Procreate. They have designed and illustrated album covers for the up-and-coming music artist Randy Louise, as well as for the 2021 concept album of GHOST TOWN: The Musical. In their art, they love to explore all that is whimsical and creepy, using a range of color palettes, including the ultra colorful and playful as well as just black charcoal against white paper.
River is part of the LGBTQ+ community and is neurodivergent, two communities of people that are often inaccurately portrayed or just completely left out of the narrative. Through their artistry, they strive to create brand new, accurate, and joyful stories, created by a member of the communities the stories are intended for. They want to inspire others to both cherish and scream their truest selves from the rooftops. River leads with their heart first, and is always willing to do whatever it takes to do what’s right.
