I love to learn. That’s what drives me, and what most characterizes my 20 years as a writer, director, and leader in the theatre.
With Available Light, in addition to the on-stage productions, I’ve created a mountain of creative work: short films, documentaries, websites, Kickstarter campaigns, grant writing, blog posts, promotional videos, press releases, original songs, rap music, sound designs, interviews, podcasts, public speaking, performance poetry, etcetera.
All told, I’ve learned more than I ever could have imagined doing this work, and I’ve had deep, long-lasting collaborations with some truly wonderful people.
What else do you want to know? I am a Coach. I am a musician and a photographer. I’m a hiker and a camper, I’m into Magic the Gathering and The Legend of Zelda. And I am a certified Positive Psychology Practitioner.
I’m married to Acacia (Thank goodness!) and I live in Columbus, Ohio.
Here’s a photo I took at 10,400 feet up in the Rocky Mountains after one of the more difficult hikes of my life.
And here’s one I took on the Colorado River, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I’d love to tell you about that trip sometime.
Here’s my official bio, if you’re looking for that sort of thing…
Matt Slaybaugh is the founder and Executive Director of Available Light Theatre where he has produced more than 100 shows, including more than 30 company-created original works and adaptations. His writing and directing of new plays for Available Light and the BlueForms Theatre Group has been lauded by American Theatre magazine, the National New Play Network, New York Press, Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards, the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, NYtheatre dot com, the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle, the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Artistic Excellence Awards, and many more. His adaptations of sci-fi and graphic novels have been featured by The Comics Journal and io9 dot com.
In addition, his work has been seen at Baltimore Centerstage, New Orleans’ Southern Rep, Woolly Mammoth in D.C., InterAct Theatre of Philadelphia, the Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Galapagos in Brooklyn, Hyde Park of Austin, the Kennedy Center ACT Festival, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater in NYC, the Cleveland Public Theatre, the Columbus Museum of Art, Riverside Theatre in Iowa City, Red Herring, and Actors’ Theatre of Columbus, among others.
As a speaker and performance poet, Matt kicked-off the first TEDxColumbus event and encored at the second, riffed on the real-time web for Resource Interactive’s iCitizen 2010, and rapped about e-commerce for iCitizen 2011. Other gigs include speaking and event emcee-ing for Vistage, the Young Presidents/World Presidents Organization, the Columbus Foundation, Estée Lauder, InkTank, the Cincinnati Public Library’s Writers Weekend, the Columbus State Leadership Society, and others.
Matt served on the Greater Columbus Creative Cultural Commission; has taught classes and workshops at Columbus College of Art & Design, Denison University, Columbus State Community College, Otterbein College, Miami University, New Albany High School, and Columbus’s Arts Impact Middle School.
Matthew Slaybaugh 