RODERICK
JUSTICE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR - PRODUCER - SHOW DOCTOR - DIRECTOR - DESIGNER - ARTS EDUCATOR
WHO I AM
Beginning as a performer with The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati in 2006, he joined the company full-time in 2008 as its first Associate Artistic Director. He later became Program Director of the highly acclaimed STAR Program, an intensive musical theatre training program for young performers ages 9–18. Many of his STAR alumni have gone on to successful careers as arts administrators, on Broadway, in television and film, in business leadership, and in behind-the-scenes creative roles.
Since his promotion to Artistic Director of TCT in 2015, he has commissioned and produced more than 35 new musicals, plays, and world-premiere adaptations. He has spearheaded numerous artistic and educational initiatives, including The Change Fund, the TCT Resident Artist Company, STAR Red Bank, STAR Cabaret, and TCT’s Script Development Division.
Recognized as one of Cincinnati’s 40 Under Forty and named BroadwayWorld.com’s Arts Educator of the Decade, he also received Honorable Mention for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award, presented by Carnegie Mellon University at the 2024 Tony Awards.
Roderick is Appalachian, originally hailing from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. While he has trained and worked throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, he now proudly calls Cincinnati home.
Roderick Justice is a Tony-recognized Arts Educator, & an award-winning stage director, choreographer, costume, graphic, & interior designer, playwright, actor, and Broadway producer (How to Dance in Ohio). A mentor to hundreds of young performers, he has been producing theatre-for-youth & families for nearly two decades.
He led the creative direction and design for the company’s $6 million campaign for the TCT Academy and Headquarters on Red Bank Road in 2015, and most recently guided the entire creative vision, design, and strategic direction of the $52 million restoration and re-imagination of the historic Emery Theatre in downtown Cincinnati. When the landmark re-opened in October 2025, the Emery was hailed as “the most technologically advanced theatre of its kind in the nation,” featuring state-of-the-art stagecraft that still remains the only one of its kind in the world.
Roderick’s tenure has been driven by his passion for theatre for young audiences, the impact of the arts on early childhood development, and the power of youth theatre to spark imagination in adults (or, as he likes to call them, “big kids”). He finds his greatest joy in harnessing storytelling to change lives and cultivate the next generation of theatre makers and lifelong patrons.
When his schedule permits, he enjoys freelancing as a guest artist, educator, designer, consultant, theatre “doctor,” director, and choreographer for arts organizations, including his alma mater, Northern Kentucky University’s School of the Arts; Judging the National Poetry Out Loud Competition finals in 2025; directing, designing, and choreographing for The Commonwealth Theatre Company, The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA); The Carnegie; and The Lincoln Amphitheater in Lincoln City, Indiana, among others.
“He's a dreamer, who makes dreams a reality.”
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Roderick Justice
Producer & Artistic Director
