Co-Artistic Directors

Erin Brindley

Co-Executive Artistic Director | (She/Her)

Erin Brindley founded Ripple Productions in New York City in 2003 where she began integrating dining and theater to critical acclaim. In 2007 she returned to her hometown of Seattle to become Managing Director of Circus Contraption and eventually directed their final show, The Show to End All Shows. After Circus Contraption disbanded, Brindley moved Ripple Productions to Seattle to create Café Nordo. With her partner Terry Podgorski acting as playwright and scenic designer, and Erin as chef and stage director, Café Nordo integrated immersive theater with a surreal dining experience, garnering multiple awards (including Best Chef in Seattle 2018 Seattle Weekly,) two beautiful venues in Pioneer Square, and a loyal following. In 2023 she launched ThankSalt.com, a food blog, and in 2024 she launched Re cipe for Sleep, a podcast where she reads you to sleep from very old cookbooks. She holds a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.

Co-Executive Artistic Director | (He/Him)

With 25+ years of experience self-producing art, theater, and live events Terry has worked with dozens of companies and hundreds of artists in typical theater settings, site-specific settings, festivals, and film to bring the imagination into reality. Arriving in Seattle in 2000 he spent 8 years with Circus Contraption as manager and designer. Then in 2009, he co-founded with Erin Brindley Café Nordo, an immersive theatrical dining company, writing and designing 14 original works and producing more than 30 over 13 years of its existence. As both an artist and a manager of the arts Terry understands the process of collaboration to realize a vision, and his life’s passion has been to create a laboratory for artists to invent magical worlds that delight audiences.

Board of Directors

Hannah Corinne Smith | Chair

Mandi Bussell | Secretary

Alan Davidoff | Treasurer

Vuong Vu

Barbara Davidoff

Tom Hajduk

Pauline Zeestraten

Lani Bertino