RJFCREATIVE
Featuring the creative works of Robert John Ford
Playwright. Composer. Lyricist. Producer. Author.
UPCOMING
Premiering July 2023 - Des Moines. IA
CYCLEPATHS
A new musical comedy that celebrates the annual Midwest bacchanalia known as RAGBRAI and tells the saga of a couple from Brooklyn who falsely believes a tandem bike ride across Iowa will be a relaxing, carefree vacation. Presented as part of RAGBRAI 50 and the 2023 Summer House Party Tour.
TRICE
Premiering October 2023 - Ames, IA
A new musical drama about the inspiring life and tragic death of college football legend Jack Trice - one of the first Black Americans to play the sport in the 1920s - and the decades-long efforts by a group of Iowa State University students, faculty, and alums determined to have him properly honored.
CAUCUS! 2024
Premiering January 2024 - Des Moines, IA
For more than 50 years, the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses have significantly shaped each presidential election process. While the Democrats are now looking to start their process elsewhere, the Republicans will be back in 2024, and so will the sixth iteration of this hit musical comedy.
Workshop Production 2024 - New York, NY
ROLF(E)
You think you know him as the villain from "The Sound Of Music," but what's his real story... and how do you correctly
spell his name? "Rolf(e)" tells the hilarious back-story of an unheralded
and misunderstood hero-wannabe who would do anything for love and the underground resistance.
UTOPIA
Premiering Spring 2024 - Des Moines, IA
A musical revue that features a wide variety of original sketches and parody songs that celebrate - and poke a little fun at - the unique people, places, and traditions of the great state of Iowa. Originally premiering in 2009, the 7th version of this audience favorite will premiere in 2024.
SIX-ON-SIX
Now Available For High School Productions
A musical comedy that celebrates the rich tradition of six-on-six girls' high school basketball in Iowa - its glorious history, unique rules, phenomenal popularity, colorful personalities, and the Title IX legal controversy that ultimately resulted in the game's demise. Available now for high school productions.
ABOUT ROBERT JOHN FORD & RJFCREATIVE
RJFcreative is an umbrella limited liability company that represents all of Robert John Ford's creative works, businesses, and contract work nationally. It also provides theatre production, arts management, grant writing, and copywriting consulting services to not-for-profit arts organizations.
Robert John Ford (RJF) is an award-winning playwright, composer, lyricist, theatre producer, and Iowa Arts Council Fellow. Since 2005, his plays and musicals have been seen by more than 75,000 people throughout the world. His songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall and at cabaret clubs from Chicago to Toronto by notable Broadway performers including Jeremy Jordan and Laura Benanti.
As a theatre administrator, RJF has held management positions at numerous theatre companies including the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego (15 years), the Theatre In Old Town in San Diego, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the Hangar Theatre, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In addition, he was the original Entertainment Supervisor for LegoLand California when it opened in 1998. He is currently the Company Manager for Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, Connecticut.
A native of Iowa, RJF splits his free time between Des Moines, where he is a theatre producer and activist, and New York, where he is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop, The Dramatists Guild of America, and ASCAP. Other notable conversation starters about RJF: he was a former successful contestant on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," had daily conversations with a serial killer for nearly a year, and had a nationally-televised moment with Vice President Kamala Harris.
House Party Tour returns in 2023 with "Cyclepaths"
Following the tremendous success of the 2021 Summer House Party Tour production of "Utopia - The Iowa Musical Revue!," the Summer House Party Tour will return in 2023 with a production of "Cyclepaths." The 2022 production was canceled due to COVID-related concerns; hosts will be able to sign up for a performance slot beginning March 15, with priority given to those who were originally scheduled to host in 2022. "Cyclepaths" will also be performed at various locations throughout Iowa in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of RAGBRAI. More information will be posted in March 2023.
RJF projects receive more than $50,000 from IAC
Since 2007, the Iowa Arts Council has awarded more than $50,000 in grants for RJF projects including productions of "Caucus! The Musical," "Six-On-Six," "Utopia - The Iowa Musical Revue," "Adore Us! Line," and "Rolf(e)." In addition, RJF was included in the first class of five Iowa Arts Council fellows in 2014. RJF is grateful to the Iowa Arts Council for its generous support.
"Adore Us! Line" earns four BroadwayWorld Awards
Iowa Stage Theatre Company's production of RJF's "Adore Us! Line" has won four regional BroadwayWorld "Best Of The Decade" Awards including Best Original Script, Best Production Of A Musical, Best Ensemble, and Best Direction Of A Musical (Maxwell Schaeffer). To watch a full performance of "Adore Us! Line," click on the show logo below.
