Rhonda Morton
Founder and Creative Director, Alligator Mouth Improv
Rhonda Morton is a poet, performance artist, dancer and singer with a particular interest in improvisation in all those roles. Equally at home working as a soloist, as an ensemble member, or as a producer/performer, Rhonda uses the transformational power of creativity-in-the-moment, often integrating the audience and/or the site into performances.
In 2005, Rhonda formed Alligator Mouth Improv, a four-person ensemble that draws on theatre, movement, vocals, instrumental music and storytelling, all created in the moment, often from audience input and interaction. They perform in traditional theatres, but are just as likely to be found in business settings, community-building events, or non-arts venues like post offices, grocery stores, and the sidewalk during a busy lunch hour.
Rhonda is the author of two books of poetry -- Woman Seeking Water (FootHills Publishing, 1997) and Breathing In, Breathing Out (FootHills Publishing, 2001) -- as well as a book of short-short stories, She Opens the Suitcase (FootHills Publishing, 2009). She is a poet of the stage as well as the page, and has been the featured reader at venues throughout the Northeast since her first performance on the Centerway Bridge in Corning, NY, in 1992.
Rhonda is also a skilled teaching artist and has worked with groups of every type -- from pre-schoolers to trust bankers -- to open up the potential and harness the creativity in individuals and groups. These sessions use improvisation and the expressive arts coupled with examples from participants' lives to increase trust, improve communications and ramp up performance. She and her colleagues in Alligator Mouth Improv also lead improvisational residencies where participants learn to perform improvisationally and then take the stage with the professinals from Alligator Mouth Improv.
In addition, Rhonda is certified as a leader of InterPlay, an improvisation-based approach to personal and organizational effectiveness practiced around the world, and she conducts creative writing workshops for adults and teens. In 1997, she founded GirlSmarts®, a series of workshops and retreats that use the arts to help teenage girls understand who they are and what they want out of their lives.
In 2005, Rhonda was awarded the Arts Partnership Award from The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes for "tirelessly supporting others in their artistic endeavors, for encouraging young poets and musicians, and mentoring young women with her passion for and commitment to the arts."
Rhonda graduated summa cum laude from Muskingum College in 1980 where she earned a double major in English and philosophy. She has studied extensively in the fields of poetry, performing arts, and improvisation for the past 15 years. This has included private lessons, group workshops, self-study and regular practices with other performers.