Judy Richter has been reviewing opera and theater in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 30 years. Her column, "The Richter Scale," first appeared in the Fairfield Daily Republic, then the San Mateo Times. She recently retired from the San Francisco Chronicle, where she was a writer and copy editor. She writes for the San Francisco Chronicle on a freelance basis and reviews theater online for AisleSay.com.

A member of the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, she has won several awards for reviews and other newspaper work. She has a master's degree in journalism and taught high school English and journalism.

She lives south of San Francisco in San Carlos, CA. Her e-mail address is jarichter @ earthlink.net.