PRESS RELEASE: Rialto Spotlight Series Closes Out 2025 with Westfield Native and Touring Drummer Lucy Ritter
December 18 event celebrates local roots and global stages as the musician returns home for an evening of conversation
WESTFIELD, NJ – November 2025 - The Rialto Center for Creativity’s Spotlight Series closes out 2025 with a high-energy evening featuring Lucy Ritter, a professional drummer whose remarkable career has taken her from local stages in Westfield to sold-out tours around the world. The event will take place on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at 7:00 p.m., at the Rialto Center for Creativity.
A Westfield native, Ritter began drumming at age nine and landed her first professional gig by fourteen. After performing with local bands throughout high school, she attended Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music before leaving to tour with An Officer and a Gentleman and later Broadway’s Grammy Award–winning Jagged Little Pill. In 2023, she relocated to Los Angeles and, within a week, joined pop artist Chappell Roan’s band —a move that launched her onto global stages, including NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, Saturday Night Live, Coachella, and the Grammys.
Ritter has also performed with Mannequin Pussy and The Two Lips. When not on tour, she continues to create and teach in LA.
During her Spotlight Series appearance, Ritter will reflect on how growing up in Westfield shaped her musical journey, what life is like behind the drum kit on major tours, and how a creative center like the Rialto can inspire the next generation of musicians.
“Lucy represents everything the Spotlight Series stands for—celebrating artists whose creativity connects Westfield to the wider world,” said Bill Crandall, president of the Rialto Board of Trustees. “Her story reminds us how creative roots planted here continue to flourish far beyond our town.”
Spotlight Series: Showcasing the Vision for the New Rialto
The Rialto Spotlight Series is designed to celebrate creativity, connect the community, and share the vision for the Rialto Center for Creativity, which is set to open in fall 2028. Each event brings together artists, thinkers, and storytellers with ties to Westfield to explore the ways creativity shapes culture, community, and connection.
The Series also serves as a key initiative of the Rialto Reimagined campaign, the effort to transform Westfield’s beloved historic theater into a vibrant hub for performance, learning, and collaboration.
Earlier 2025 events featured screenwriters Aaron and Will Eisenberg (Amazon Studios, Netflix, Paramount+) and a conversation on Westfield’s Harlem Renaissance legacy with Tanya Birl-Torres and Monica L. Miller. The series continues into 2026 with Mike Emanuel, Chief Washington Correspondent for FOX News Channel, who will explore journalism as an unsung form of creativity, where critical thinking, storytelling, and on-the-spot problem solving separate good journalists from great ones.
The Spotlight Series conversations are moderated by Westfielder Garret Vogel, who brings his own creative energy and community connection to each discussion.
Watch the video recap here.
Event Details
• Date: Thursday, December 18, 2025
• Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
• Location: Rialto Center for Creativity, 250 East Broad Street, Westfield, NJ
• Tickets: Available beginning November 18, 2025, at
www.rialtowestfield.org/events/spotlight-ritter
• Recording: A digital recording will be available after the event.
Seating is limited, and community members are encouraged to purchase tickets early. Audience questions may be submitted in advance via Instagram and Facebook for consideration during the conversation.
About the Rialto Center for Creativity
The Rialto Center for Creativity is transforming Westfield’s historic Rialto Theater into a vibrant hub for cultural conversation, live performance, and hands-on learning. Guided by values of creativity, inclusion, and community, the Center will host performances, film screenings, exhibitions, workshops, and classes in a welcoming, flexible space designed to inspire. The project is supported by the Rialto Reimagined campaign, with construction and operations funded through government support, private donations, and future earned revenue streams.
Visit www.rialtowestfield.org for more information.
