Bio
RICK HAMMERLY has worked as an award-winning, DC-based actor, director and arts manager for three decades. He received a 2018 Helen Hayes Award for his direction of Factory 449’s LELA & CO. and received a 2020 Helen Hayes Award nomination for his direction of AGNES OF GOD, also for Factory 449.
His directing credits include REYKJAVIK (Rorschach Theatre), EMILIE: LA MARQUISE DU CHATELET DEFENDS HER LIFE TONIGHT (WSC Avant Bard), THE BRONTES (New York Musical Theatre Festival), JUNIE B. JONES IS NOT A CROOK (Adventure Theatre MTC), DRIVING MISS DAISY (Riverside Center for the Performing Arts), FINIAN’S RAINBOW (Live Arts Maryland), DEAD MAN WALKING (American University) and CLOSET LAND (Factory 449), and as well as productions with SCENA Theatre, Rainbow Theatre Project, Actor’s Theatre of Washington, and Fourth Wall Productions. He worked as the assistant director on Ford’s Theatre’s productions of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, DRIVING MISS DAISY, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and JEFFERSON’S GARDEN and was selected to participate in The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2015/16 Director’s Studio program.
As an actor, he has performed Off-Broadway, regionally, and locally, receiving a Helen Hayes Award for his turn as Hedwig in Signature Theatre’s production of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, as well as nominations for his work in ANGELS IN AMERICA (Signature Theatre), ME AND JEZEBEL (MetroStage) and OLIVER! (Adventure Theatre MTC). For the past decade, he has played Mr. Fezziwig in Ford’s Theatre’s annual production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and was most recently seen as Miss Tracy Mills in Round House Theatre’s THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE.
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Born and raised in Arlington, VA, Hammerly received his bachelor’s degree in Drama and Anthropology from the University of Virginia. In 2006, he completed a master’s degree in Film and Video Production at American University, then wrote, directed, produced and acted in "signage," his first film, which screened in over 60 film festivals world wide. To date, the film has garnered 5 festival awards and was a finalist for the inaugural Iris Prize. MTV licensed the film for its LOGO channel where it received its TV premiere and Wolfe Video released the film on DVD as part of the shorts compilation, "S is for Sexy."
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Hammerly is a founder and the current producing artistic director of Factory 449, a DC theatre company in residence at Anacostia Arts Center. Factory 449 is the recipient of multiple Helen Hayes Awards, including the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company. He is member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), and currently serves on theatreWashington’s Advisory Committee.
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