Bio
Kevin Ray is a Brooklyn based Generative Theater Artist, producing & directing original work in collaboration with actors & designers through Kevin Ray | Works. Most recently, he produced and directed Unearthly Visitants a devised play based on ghost stories written by Edith Wharton and The Machine Stops, a devised play based on the short story of the same name by E.M Forster. He is currently developing a new piece based on the science fiction novel We by Russian dissident Yevgeny Zamyatin, premiering October 2024 in Brooklyn NY. He has received grants to support his work from New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Brooklyn Arts Council and The Puffin Foundation. Kevin’s work has been written about in Greenpointers and The New Yorker and has been described as “A Space Mountain roller coaster ride, an intellectual white water rafting expedition, a production that will have you talking about it for hours and days to come.”
Artistic Statement
I am a Generative Artist, producing & directing theater in collaboration with actors & designers.
My process begins when I discover fresh “source material” (a short story, news report, photograph) and have a “hunch” it’s ripe with rich content that will make a savory performance.
I collect a wide variety of ingredients (interviews, biographies, images, sounds, scholarly articles, objects) that crack open the source material. In this marinade, my imagination percolates with possibilities. I create charts and diagrams to analyze, organize and develop my thoughts.
When I’m boiling over with ideas, I present this stew of inspiration to my collaborators through hand-crafted rehearsal plans designed to spark their enthusiasm and imagination. Using improvisation, tableaux, soundscapes, movement, fabric manipulation etc. we collectively investigate each ingredient, actively experimenting with deepening its thematic content through theatrical form. I facilitate reflective discussions to identify which ideas are most resonant, slowly peeling back layers revealing the production’s core.
During rehearsal, I select and sequence potent ideas, boiling down the work into its most expressive, meaningful form. The result is a theatrical feast, overflowing with vivid characters, gripping narrative, concentrated themes and delicious theatricality, leaving audiences with the lingering aftertaste of profound central questions.
