Nicky Paraiso (performer)

Nicky Paraiso is currently the dance & performance curator at The Club at La MaMa, and is responsible for its surge of theater, new music, dance and cabaret programming.  He is also a co-curator of the annual La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, currently in its fourth season.  As an actor and performer, Paraiso has worked with Jeff Weiss & Carlos Ricardo Martinez, Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble, Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, and NAATCO.  Nicky has also been a critically-acclaimed solo performance artist, whose one-man shows Asian Boys, Houses and Jewels and House/Boy have been presented at Dixon Place, P.S.122, Dance Theatre Workshop, La MaMa, and on tour in the United States.  House/Boy was recently presented at the Dublin Theatre Festival and also at the 3rd annual Initiation International Festival in Singapore.  Paraiso′s awards include a 1987 NY Dance & Performance "Bessie" Award, a 2004 Spencer Cherashore Fund grant for mid-career actors, and a NY Innovative Theater Award.  Nicky is a graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory, and holds an M.F.A. from NYU's Graduate Acting Program.