Ralph Colombino
Artistic Director

Ralph has been a performer and educator for the past twenty four years. He received a BFA degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts Professional Actor Training Program at Rutgers University. He has studied acting with some of the theatre’s most renowned teachers, including; Pierre LeFevre, Victoria Hart, William Esper, Maggie Flanigan, Edward Stern, Harold Scott, Lloyd Williamson, Mai Loughran, Peter Nels, and Joseph Hart. Mr. Colombino has performed in nearly forty professional theatre productions as well as a vast array of independent films. As a teacher, Mr. Colombino has taught nearly every age at every level of education. Through his cutting edge curriculum, Ralph’s classes have proven, time and time again, to have a profoundly positive and perpetually enriching effect on his students both artistically and personally. He is fiercely committed to progressive training in theatre and cinematic arts for young people and to elevating our nation’s level of education in the arts. Some of his teaching credits include; Actor's Heritage in NYC, The Children’s Cultural Center in Red Bank NJ, Hoboken High School in NJ, Dance Theater Project in Spring Lake NJ, The Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank NJ, Fairleigh Dickinson University and presently, NJ Arts and Education Center, and Monmouth University where, as an adjunct professor, Ralph teaches acting and theater appreciation. On 5/5/05 he opened Actors Playground and has never looked back since.

Year after year, Ralph’s students are accepted into the most prestigious and elite universities for theatre that exist, some of which include: The TISCH School at New York University, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Emerson College, USC, and many others.

Ralph’s students' professional credits include, Broadway; The Lion King (Young Simba), Les Miserables. Feature Films; Bridge of Spies, The Family, Unbroken, Doubt, Donnie Brasco, The Wrestler, Redacted, A Walk Among The Tombstones, Cop Out, Brooklyn’s Finest, Empire, and School of Rock. Television; Orange Is The New Black, Public Morals, The Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, The Sopranos, Grey’s Anatomy, Boardwalk Empire, The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Following, Generation Kill, Law & Order, American Idol, The Today Show, Mercy, Man V Food, Glee Project, 30 Rock, Life On Mars, As The World Turns, MTV specials, Blues Clues, The Naked Brothers, What Would You Do? various Nickelodeon programming, and countless national commercials.

Ralph is the company director of Playground Theatre Project which is a company of well trained and socially conscious young actors who travel to schools of all grade levels, churches, youth groups, community centers, libraries, museums, and theaters across America performing original social issue plays concerning violence, racism, human rights, bullying, suicide, and drug and alcohol abuse. Ralph also created the younger division of this company called The Mini Misfits. This troupe of 7 to 12 year olds perform an original anti-bullying play for elementary schools throughout the east coast. They are the youngest social issue theater company in the world.