Nicole Ricciardi is a theatre maker based in Chicago, IL.

She has directed and developed work at Shakespeare and Company, Primary Stages, Youngblood/Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Flea, the Drama Book Shop, Chelsea Repertory Lab, Two River Theater Company, Shadow Lawn Stage, Circle East, Bushwick Arts, Central Square Theatre (Boston), and New Century Theatre. Most recently, she directed a critically acclaimed and record breaking production of Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles for Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA.

Nicole has also worked with her own company of NYC artists, designers, and musicians to create: The Juliet and Romeo Project, a cross-gendered adaptation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece; Roasting Alice, a modern, new musical based on Lewis Carroll’s classic story; We Eat Chekhov, a new play with music based on the vaudevilles of Anton Chekhov; Article 140, a stage adaptation of a Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Les Jeux Sont Faits"; and an all-male production of Shakespeare's The Comedie of Errors (As Presented by the Miners of Hell's Half Acre).

Nicole has taught on the Theatre faculties of Drew, Syracuse, and Monmouth Universities, as well as the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. She has led classes and workshops for Keene College, Shakespeare and Company, Eastern Connecticut State University, Hartford Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, The New York Film Academy, Two River Theatre Company, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and the Acting Studio, New York.

Nicole joined the faculty of The Theatre School at DePaul in Fall 2017.

Nicole received her B.A. in Theatre Arts and Psychology from Drew University and her M.F.A. in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University.