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Boston Globe

Boston's theater community loses an influential founder

Ritchell, who died Dec. 30, 2024, leaves a rich legacy of committing to and nurturing some of Boston's best actors, directors, and designers (including Elliot Norton Award winners Advertisement 'Ron was a lovable curmudgeon and a craftsman actor with a particular stage presence,' said Plum, who was cast in one of the company's earliest productions, 'Dial M for Murder,' when she was a Boston University undergraduate. 'He and Polly were incredibly driven theater people and their knowledge of British theater was massive,' she said. 'They were among the pioneers of Boston theater who were committed to building a strong theater community here.' Ritchell worked as both an actor and director, giving memorable performances in such classics as 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' and 'Juno and the Paycock,' as well as in a much-beloved holiday production of Dylan Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' that was adapted and directed by Hogan. At the Lyric, Ritchell and Hogan also produced 25 world premieres, but were best known for introducing Boston audiences to the relationship comedies of Alan Ayckbourn, and memorable productions of works by Noel Coward and George Bernard Shaw. Advertisement 'Ron, in his time, was a pillar of local theater, hiring local actors,' said actor Jeremiah Kissel, 'the one union contract in Boston for Boston actors when there were only three contract houses in town — the Huntington, ART, and the Lyric. Only Ron Ritchell and Polly Hogan did a full seven-show season using only local performers, and by doing so launched many career actors and actresses who successfully built lives right here in Boston.' Their commitment to local actors was also demonstrated by their leadership in launching the Theater Community Benevolent Fund (along with Mary C. Huntington, founder of the Nora Theatre), which provides confidential, financial relief to theater artists facing hardship. After leaving the Lyric in 1998, Ritchell and Hogan launched Lyric West before retiring first to Canada and then to Florida. Hogan passed away in 2023.