ABOUT ASRADA
ASRADA is the d/b/a name for The American Supporters of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, LTD. ASRADA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization which accepts donations from the general public, individuals, other public charities, foundations, and corporations. Your Support
Our purpose is to promote the dramatic art and to foster in the general public an appreciation of and an interest in the dramatic art. An important facet of our mission includes offering support to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). For over one hundred years, RADA has offered the highest quality educational programming in all facets of the dramatic art. A few American students are chosen each year for RADA’s world renowned full training programs.
ASRADA Board of Directors
PETER FRANCIS JAMES (President) is an American graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from Chicago, Illinois. His extensive credentials as an actor in theatre, film and television include on Broadway Funny Girl, Hillary and Clinton, Present Laughter, The Merchant of Venice, On Golden Pond, Drowning Crow and Judgment at Nuremberg. And, at Theater Royal Haymaket in The Lady from Dubuque with Maggie Smith. He appears in the EPIX series, Archie Gaines in Godfather of Harlem. Peter is the recipient of two Obie awards, a Lucille Lortel award, and Drama Desk. He is notable as a director for The African Company Presents Richard lll (Cleveland Playhouse), The Misanthrope (CSC), Twelfth Night (Juilliard), Miss Julie (BADA). As an educator and advocate for young talent, he taught Shakespeare at the Yale School of Drama for 20 years, and at BADA in Oxford, UK.
RICHARD RIVAS, (Treasurer) is an American graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, born in the Philippines and raised in Chicago, Illinois. As an actor, Richard spent time in Connecticut collaborating with former Hollywood actress Mother Dolores Hart, appearing in many plays and musicals, including No Exit, Uncle Vanya, Hedda Gabler, My Fair Lady and the Music Man. Richard was also involved in shows produced at Fairfield University’s Quick Center for the Performing Arts where he collaborated in new translations of works by Spanish playwright Juan Mayorga, and a faculty production of Glengarry Glen Ross. Richard holds an MBA in Finance from The University of Connecticut School of Business and over the years has worked in various roles in the asset management industry, most notably in investment operations and client service. Richard is currently a Client Implementations Manager with T.Rowe Price International Ltd., based in London. Richard is proud to serve as ASRADA Treasurer where he can use his background in theatre and business to help deepen bonds between the US and UK and support young artists on both shores to develop their talents. Contact via LiknedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/richard-rivas-mba
TARA HUGO, (Vice President) is an American graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, originally from Amarillo, Texas. As an actress in film and theatre in the US and the UK, awards include a Laurence Olivier nomination, a USF New York Best One Woman Show award, and a London Offie nomination. She is to date a featured singer in performances and recordings for Philip Glass, including Infinity at the Coronet Theatre London 2023. As a RADA Associate and for her pro-bono work, she was presented to HM Queen Elizabeth, by the late Lord Attenborough at the re-opening of RADA in 2000, a few years later at Mansion House and in 2014 at Buckingham Palace for A Celebration of Drama. Tara served on the RADA audition panel and established the Americas RADA Network (ARN) for North American alumni of RADA’s acting and technical programs. She’s been active in RADA’s mentoring program, the “Buddy” scheme, since its inception, and is a founder of ASRADA, for which she organizes events and liaises between institutions such as RADA and the supporters that make it possible for young artists to thrive. Her passion for young Americans that want to study abroad fuels her continued dedication to finding ways to support the dream.
RICHARD HICKS (Board Member) is an American graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, born in Louisiana and raised in Dayton, Ohio. He’s a Casting Director for film and television based in New York and Los Angeles. Richard is a two-time past President of the Casting Society of America and a Governor of the Casting Directors branch at AMPAS. His films include Hell or High Water, Luckiest Girl Alive, Together Together, Gravity, Zero Dark Thirty, Hairspray, Lars And The Real Girl, O.G., Christopher Guest’s For Your Consideration and A Mighty Wind, Walter Salles’ On The Road and Ken Loach’s Bread and Roses. Richard is an Emmy winner for HBO’s Game Change as well as a three-time Emmy nominee for Recount, Temple Grandin and the series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
PETER BOGYO (Board Member) is a General Manager, Executive Producer, Producer of Special Events, and an Author. On Broadway, Peter has General Managed: Love Letters, The Trip To Bountiful, Stick Fly, Time Stands Still, American Buffalo, Moon For The Misbegotten, The Blonde In The Thunderbird, Sly Fox, Fortune’s Fool and Voices In The Dark; Off Broadway, he GM’ed : Adult Entertainment, Showtune, Mr. Goldwyn, Madame Melville and The Unexpected Man. For GMHC, he produced benefit concerts of Anyone Can Whistle, Jubilee and Showstoppers! at Carnegie and David Geffen Halls. He has unveiled several monuments for the city of New York, produced a memorial tribute for director Herbert Ross, and coordinated the international entertainment for philanthropist George Soros’s 75th birthday party. Peter was also one of the original singing frogs in Stephen Sondheim’s The Frogs, which was staged around the Yale Exhibition pool in a gymnasium. He is a former member of the Broadway League and a Tony Award voter, a member of ATPAM, and a graduate of Yale College. Peter is the author of two well-received books: Broadway General Manager: Demystifying The Most Important And Least Understood Role In Show Business, published by Allworth Press, and A Dog’s Life: A Collection of Humorous Tributes Celebrating Man’s Best Friend, a collection of dog obituaries. Above all, he is the proud father of RADA graduate Jamie Bogyo.
MARY MONROE (Board Advisor, Past President) is devoted to the development of new work in support of playwrights and performing artists, nationally and internationally, and has created several national and New York City based nonprofit companies and programs to benefit thousands of artists, across mediums, from college students to accomplished professionals. Upon graduating RADA, she became a full SDC (Union) Stage Director and a Nonprofit Producer, working at such places as: Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Public (New York Shakespeare Festival), LaMama E.T.C., Provincetown Playhouse, Circle East (formerly Circle Rep Lab), H.E.R.E., New Dramatists, Nat Horne Theater/NYC Theatre Row, BACA/Downtown, Indiana Repertory, and Northlight. Mary has been Board President of a number of performing arts organizations, a RADA Associate, served as a Regional Playwriting Chair for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and nurtured graduate playwriting and screenwriting students as a professional director adjunct with NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dramatic Writing Program. In her devotion to supporting performing artists, Mary has received several honors, including the Kennedy Center Bronze Medal.