Shows
- Solo Theater - Poetry - Music - Rock 'n Roll
Ray McNiece's
PAGE-to-STAGE PRODUCTIONS
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and other professionals
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Click here for
performances of Ray and his Band, Tongue In Groove
photo credit above, Tim Lachina
Yeats and McNiece, at CPT
Cleveland poet and performer
Ray McNiece
is on stage in the
Cleveland Public Theatre's
debut production of "Open
Mind Firmament,"
a play about William Butler Yeats, and most specifically focussed on
Yeats' Cuchulain cycle, a series of short plays about incidents in the
life of the mythic Irish hero C?Chulainn (the pronunciation of whose
name, by the way, is a subject of some scholarly debate: Yeats prefered
the pronunciation "ku-HOO-lin").
Yeats was himself intimately involved with the theater (along with
friends, he established the Irish Literary Theatre to produce Irish and
Celtic plays), on a mission to produce a form of theatre that avoided
"vulgar realism" in favor of an avant-garde theatre emphasizing
symbolism, nuance, and poetry.
Roy Berko
calls
this production "visually compelling"-- I'll agree with that; the
stagecraft (on a very nearly empty stage) is magnificent. This is a
performance combining symbolism, dance, scholarly analysis, and Irish
song. I think Yeats would be proud. And Ray McNiece is brilliant in the
role of Cuchulain.
Lives of a Poet
The Lives of a Poet
Written by Ray McNiece
Directed by Jordan Davis
Music by Al Moses
Through Linked
poems, songs and monologues, Ray McNiece presents, The Lives of a
Poet, a Memoir
on Stage
depicting the many facets of his life as a performer. Live music and
ancestral images help him tell the tales of a poet whose words have
carried him from the rusty crucible of Cleveland across the wide world.
From first
finding his callings not as a preacher but as a poet in the hills and
hollers of Appalachia to the working class crucible of Cleveland that
forged his hard edged colloquial verse, Ray McNiece takes the audience
on a poetic journey through the wonders of words that have carried him
from stages in 49 of the United States to international performances in
Europe, Russia and Asia.
Whether if be
though drama, song or poem, this poet has been making a living by living
his making through language. The significant creations that make up this
memoir on stage will be linked by the back stories that provided their
genesis.
Al
Moses provides
musical accompaniment for original songs and created sound-scapes to
accentuate the poems and monologues that make up these various lives.
Jordan Davis directs and conceptualizes the ancestral images and voices
that guide a poet walking in the footsteps of endless others. A poet is
the sum total of all those met, all those voices heard, and all those
lives lived.
US? Talking Across America
This 80 minute
picaresque tour of average Americans and their opinions starts in Times Square
and ends on Hollywood Boulevard. Performed in front of a wall-size map of the
country made from 50 used flags that were going to be burned, we hear from we,
the people--a factory worker in Cleveland, a survivalist in the hills of West
Virginia, a cow on a ramp in the Midwest, a truck driver, a broken-down bronco
buster, a country and western singer in a Reno bowling alley, and a young
hustler -- as they offer their questions and responses to the question,
"What one question would you like to ask the American people?" Of US?
Amy Sparks of the Free Times writes, "McNiece smoothly blends fine
writing with an angry political conscience and deft theatrical techniques to
create a series of characters straight from the streets." In a review from
the Orlando Fringe Festival the Sentinel called Ray "a folk troubadour
descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a dry sense of
humor." The Star-Phoenix said, "His thoughtful writing combines with
perfectly timed delivery to create a powerful wordscape that owes as much to
jazz as writing."
[ 80 minutes ]
Flyer download bottom of
News PAGE
Contact Ray GET the BOOK!
NOTE: Download a flyer on this performance at
What's new, Ray?
This 75 minute, one-act series of linked monologues, poems and songs is a
visceral and poignant portrait of disrespected people --the homeless. A dozen
characters covering a cross-section of the street population, including a Vietnam
vet, a Native American, a de-institutionalized mental patient, and an elderly
woman, present their thoughts and feeling with riveting insight. The monologues
are composites of the stories and experiences told by the guests of the Boston
Night Center, an all-night drop-in center near Boston's theatre district.
The video version of this show was produced by
WGBH-Boston and aired on PBS
nationally. In a review of DIS from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, London's
Stage and Television Today said, "The energy he has for each character is
impressive and he never fails to surprise with the variety packed into the
show." The Edinburgh Scotsman reported, "McNiece's characters are
acutely observed, the speech patterns and mannerisms perfectly caught. In a
review in dialogue, arts in the Midwest, John Stickney wrote, "McNiece
lends these victims a face with a voice and words, not full of pity but with
individual dignity." [ 75 minutes ]
Contact Ray Get the Book!
This one hour deconstruction of racial and gender
stereotypes, performed with Shawn D. Jackson, uses poetry, storytelling,
drumming, and game-show satire to explore relationships. Based on interviews
with other interracial couples and their own experiences across the country, the
play details issues of race and identity and the challenges faced by lovers
crossing cultural boundaries. A black and white Romeo and Juliet for the 90's. A
seminar/question and answer follows each performance. [ 60 minutes ]
Contact Ray
Mouth Music -- A Two-Bit Poetry Opera
This 90 minute performance in two acts features vocalist Ray McNiece and the
band Tongue-in -Groove, along with guest musicians in a musical m?ange of
poetry and song. From Rusty Junkyard Rock and Roll to Hillbilly Hip-hop, from
Acid Polka to Classical, come hear Laughing Sal's echo, a mongrel on the edge of
the Flats bark at Steel Cleveland Sagging, Johnny McEldoo's dine and dash
donnybrook, and Vedron Smelovic's dirge for Sarajavo as incarnated by the voice
of Ray McNiece as he explores the diverse musical influences on his poetry.
[ 90 minutes ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb3uGt7grNo
This two hour extravaganza in two acts celebrates the urban Appalachian
experience in the Industrial cities on the North Coast. Through his trademark
mix of stories, songs and poems, Ray explores the themes of work, family and
spirituality from his 'hillbilly' roots. The second act of the show includes
local folk musicians doing traditional and contemporary songs and ends with a
Mountain dance call. [ 120 minutes ]
Contact Ray
The Millard
Fillmore Presidential Library
bar & grill
15617 Waterloo
Rd, Cleveland, OH 44110
(216) 481-9444
https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Millard-Fillmore-Presidential-Library/100063674558022/
Plays the third Sunday of the month at 6
Sample Fillmore performance
https://www.facebook.com/angel.marino.7106/videos/585281039193694/
(on hiatus for January and February due to Covid)
March 20th, featuring Irish
American Seanachie, Sean Thomas Daughtery,
April 17, internationally touring Nepalese Poet Yuyutsu Sharma
May 15, Ray McNiece?s belated 60th Birthday Bash, featuring Zoom
Workshop Poets
June 19, Daniel Gray-Kontar,
July 17, Raja Belle Freeman
Love Song for Cleveland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgk2XgPPsxc
Tupelo Honey: https://top40-charts.com/videos/play.php?vid=L4BZdw2vWfs
Crazy Heart, Barking Spider:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORc94zyRP0k
Here's a clip of Tongue In Groove from back at the
start
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb3uGt7grNo
Education: See Teaching Literature through Song Lyrics,
The Poetry of Rock and Roll
Ray and the boys in the band...
Contact Ray
