Michael Raver

News

2012-01-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

(Jan 31) Romeo and Juliet has successfully opened. Come out and see it! Cymbeline opens early February!

(Jan 5) Early promo photos for Romeo and Juliet at Orlando Shakes are available in the production photo gallery.

(Jan 1) In rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet and Cymbeline at Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Below is a video featuring Jack A. Smith, costume designer for Romeo & Juliet.

Some Birds Can't Fly Kickstarter

2011-11-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

Orlando Shakes

2011-08-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Cell Theatre

2011-05-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, which casts Hermia and Lysander as lesbian lovers with Demetrius and Helena as a gay couple. This is not your grandmother’s MIDSUMMER, but a MIDSUMMER for 21^st century NYC. This production exposes contemporary America’s sexual hang-ups and resistance to gay marriage. Concepts of what constitutes gender, sexual-orientation and power will be explored and exploded!

For more info, click Here

For Ticket information, click Here

Gray Matters

2011-02-13T19:30:00.001-08:00

The first episode of the fantastic new series is up and ready to view! Click here

AT&T Commercial

2011-02-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

Newborn from Sean Cunningham on Vimeo.

White Rabbit Theatre's Macbeth

2011-02-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

March 10th through March 27th, 2011

Wings Theater, 154 Christopher Street, NYC
Tickets $18.

Limited Time: "Dagger Of The Mind Discount"

If you purchase tickets before February 16th, tickets are only $15!

For tickets CLICK HERE

Smart Tix Code is : Dagger

From the Macbeth website:

Red Shark Productions, Inc. is a new theatre company dedicated to the re-imagination of the classical theater experience for the modern audience. Founded by Christine & Scott Seisler, the couple made their NYC producing debut in the 2008 NY International Fringe Festival with the historical play “Woodhull”, written by Liza Lentini. Both have been working in the industry for over 20 years performing, directing, and producing. Scott holds a background as a professional water skier and stuntman, which eventually led him into show directing & producing in theme parks. Christine has been seen in numerous productions on the NYC stage including Off-Broadway in the critically acclaimed Fools in Love at Manhattan Ensemble Theatre and Last Jew in Europe at The Triad Theatre. On screen, she has been seen on 30 Rock, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and, most recently, a speaking role on Law and Order Criminal Intent. Directing: Surrender (AD) by G2G Productions, The Euthanasist, and Christiana and The Doctor’s Wife.

White Rabbit Theatre began in 1997 in conjunction with Artistic Director Andrew Rothkin’s first NYC directing engagement, Tennessee Williams’ Hello from Bertha and The Lady of Larkspur Lotion. The company has since produced many new works and contemporary classics…as readings, workshops and fully staged productions. White Rabbit Theatre has garnered multiple awards and nominations, most notably The 2008 Midtown International Theatre Festival’s “Outstanding Overall Production of a New Drama Play” Award for Bubby’s Shadow and The 2009 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity’s “Outstanding Overall Production of One-Act Play” Award for Meredith’s Ring. Other highlights include productions of tryin' t' touch the sun, CHiLLS, An Evening of Psychos, Voice, and most recently, Danny, as well as staged readings of Alice on The Edge and Strangers on Hollow Hill.

Commercial for Anthony Skin Care

2010-12-15T10:49:00.000-08:00

Funny little video clip for Anthony Skin Care directed by Joud Kashgari:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij_3LKNmMVw

New Web Series: Gray Matters

2010-11-10T18:19:00.001-08:00

I was recently cast as architect David Smalls on the new web series, Gray Matters.

From the official GM website: (http://graymattersseries.weebly.com/index.html)

Gray Matters is a new web series that explores the life and mind of Leonarda Whilaminksi, a young New York City architect with severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder who deals with germs by creating a gray world for herself. The series is a trip down the rabbit hole of a complex, sophisticated, extremely artistic mind.

Here are some links:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/653649851/gray-matters-the-darkest-gray-comedy-ever-made

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gray-Matters-Web-Series-A-Dark-Gray-Comedy/166647296683960?ref=ts

A Gentleman

2010-10-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

Here's the after-credits button for A Gentleman. Featuring Dina Cataldi and myself:

Huifen Yu's film, GONE AWAY

2010-07-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Synopsis: Born into an emotionally fractured family, Nina becomes the protective figure for her younger brother Sacha. But as the abuse becomes more frequent and personal, she is faced with making a painful choice that will forever change her relationship with him. Directed by Huifen Yu. With Lilly Wilton, Michael Raver, Ethan M. Davis, Jocelyn O'Neil and John Isgro.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1555812/

Screening of Gone Away took place at BMS Studio (http://bennettmediastudio.com/) on July 23rd.

(Pictured above Huifen Yu, Eric Giovon, Joceyln O'Neil, Lilly Wilton, Ethan Davis and Me)

The Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoNfoARwhnc

A Midsummer Night's Dream

2010-06-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here is some of the press on Midsummer:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/On_The_Square_Presents_A_MIDSUMMER_NIGHTS_DREAM_7818_20100607

http://thehappiestmedium.com/2010/07/entrevista-shakespeare-in-the-garden-a-midsummer-nights-dream/

Pictured Left (Myself as Lysander facing off with Actress Marnie Schulenburg as Hermia)
Pictured Below ( with Joie Bauer as Theseus)

The Picture of Dorian Gray - June 20th

2010-06-06T00:03:00.000-07:00

A staged reading, directed by Quin Gordon.

Presented by On the Square Productions

The TONY Lounge at New World Stages:

with Roger Clark*, Rachael Palmer Jones, Ned Noyes* and Michael Raver*

*denotes a member of Actors Equity
http://www.onthesquareproductions.com/

http://onthesquareproductions.wordpress.com/

The Miracle Worker Recieves Three Connecticut Critic's Circle Award Nominations

2010-05-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.courant.com/curtain/2010/05/connecticut-critics-circle-ann.html

"Outstanding production of a play"

"Outstanding director in a play" (Jacqueline Hubbard)

"Debut Award" (Jenilee Simons Marques)

The winners will be named June 14th at The Westport Country Playhouse.

Playing William Cottrell

2010-03-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

In a staged reading to be performed this weekend, March 26th and 27th with 9Thirty Theatre Company. The play is called People Like You.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU

Written by Kevin Artigue & directed by Quin Gordon
The Bridge Theatre, 244 W. 54th St, 12th Floor, 10019
Friday at 8pm/Saturday 11pm

“After Marcus, a 61 year-old African-American security guard at a car dealership, discovers 18 year-old Patrick spray-painting a vehicle, the two men- and all their rage and history- collide with tragic, violent consequences.”

Back information on Cottrell:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cottrell

For more information on the 9Thirty Theatre Company, check out their website:
http://www.9ttc.org/

Hamlet Royal Rumble with Bare Shakespeare

2010-03-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

Performed in an impromptu staged reading of Hamlet, playing Ophelia and The Player King with Bare Shakespeare. Huge thanks to Emily Ehlinger for inviting me to play. More info to follow.

http://www.bareshakespeare.org/

BareShakespeare is an emerging theater company based in New York City that is dedicated to producing work that continuously pursues ways to get the audience as interactive as possible. Booing the villains, “Aweing” the lovers, finding ways to get them in touch with their inner slightly immature high school student - Or think of it as Shakespeare at a Piano Bar. We make the text our main focus. Something both audience and actors need - to get to the core of the work and surprise themselves with how passionate and familiar it all is.

The Miracle Worker - Ivoryton Playhouse September-October 2009

2009-10-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Ivoryton_Playhouse_The_Miracle_Worker_20090926

When Director Jacqueline Hubbard made the decision to use a deaf actress to play the role of Helen Keller in a production of "The Miracle Worker", she knew that it would make her job more complicated, but she had no idea of the incredible joy and minor miracles that it would bring. "This process has been one of the most exhausting, frustrating and rewarding experiences of my career" says Hubbard. "I work in a field where communicating thoughts and ideas is a priority. To have speech, an actor's primary means of communication removed was daunting for all of us in the cast and crew. But something remarkable happened in the rehearsal process. Everyone stretched themselves and gave a little more, and now back stage hands are flying, signing cues, spelling lines and helping out. The miracle of this play, unlocking the door to communication and opening a heart to love and understanding has spread from the stage to the cast and crew and made this an unbelievably transformative experience."

The Miracle Worker opens at The Ivoryton Playhouse on Friday, September 23rd, 2009. It was first produced as a 1957 Playhouse 90 broadcast starring Teresa Wright as Annie Sullivan and Patricia McCormack as Helen. Gibson adapted his teleplay for a 1959 Broadway production with Anne Bancroft as Sullivan and Patty Duke as Keller. The two reprised their roles for the award winning 1962 feature film, directed by Arthur Penn.

Set in Tuscumbia, Alabama in the 1870's, The Miracle Worker tells the astonishing and inspirational story of the blind and deaf Helen Keller locked in a frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness since infancy, Helen has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch - the only tool they have in common and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.

This inspirational play of challenge, conflict and triumph weaves a powerful tale of the struggle for connection, language, and love and is alternately heroic, comical and sympathetic. In these challenging times, The Miracle Worker is a compelling and uplifting testament to the will to maintain courage in the face of adversity. As Helen Keller herself said, "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."

This play is produced in association with the National Theatre of the Deaf. Ivoryton's Producing Artistic Director, Jacqueline Hubbard directs this challenging production with Andrea Maulella* as the indomitable Annie Sullivan and Jenilee Marques, a student of The American School of the Deaf performing the headstrong Helen. Liz Erwin*, who was last seen in Ivoryton as Lizzie in The Rainmaker, will play Kate Keller, Bif Carrington III makes his debut at Ivoryton as Captain Keller, as does Michael Raver* as James Keller and Joan Valentina* as Viney. The Miracle Worker includes the return of other Ivoryton favorites, Derek Corriveau, Maggie McGlone Jennings, Sasha Krivosky, Olivia and Bridget Harry and Jenna Berloni. Set design by Cully Long, lighting by Doug Harry, and costumes by Pam Puente complete the production.

The Miracle Worker opens on September 23rd and runs thru October 11th for 3 weeks. Performance times are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm. There will be a signed performance for the deaf on Saturday, October 3rd at 8pm. Tickets are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, $20 for students and $15 for children and are available by calling The Playhouse box office at 860-767-7318 or by visiting our website at http://www.ivorytonplayhouse.org/ .(Group rates are available by calling the box office for information.) The Playhouse is located at 103 Main Street in Ivoryton.

A New Play - Quiet Electricity

2009-08-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

In January, I started writing a new play based on the short story, "A Temporary Matter," by Jhumpa Lahiri, from the book, The Interpretter of Maladies, which I've called Quiet Electricity.

A staged reading has been scheduled for August 18th at 7 pm at The Creek in Long Island City.

Actors Eric Chase and Sarah Hankins will be performing.

Admission is Free

Take the 7 train to Vernon-Jackson. It's one stop from Grand Central. Take the Jackson Ave exit - it's at the front of the train if you're coming from Manhattan. Walk one block north to 49th Ave - towards the big Citi building.

http://www.thecreekandthecave.com/

Spontaneous Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing

2009-08-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous Shakespeare is part of Imagine Me Kids and is a fantastic organization where a small group of actors perform, unrehearsed, for an audience in Central Park. The audience is then called upon during the show to play small cameo roles.

http://www.imagineme.org/Shakespeare.html

This weekend (August 16), I played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. An absolute blast! Actress Emily Ehlinger is pictured below as Beatrice.

Understudying at The Pearl Theatre in New York.

2009-04-24T23:56:00.000-07:00

From The Pearl's Homepage:

Vieux Carré thrusts the audience into the deep shadows of a dilapidated New Orleans boarding house. The play is a raw and vulnerable look into a world of outcasts and their mechanisms for survival. Nowhere does Williams more intimately explore his own sexual identity, his own journey from man to artist than in Vieux Carré. He invokes the beauty and fragility of love, and the wounds it inflicts; the terror of death and the necessity of hope, the importance of memory and the longing to bury the past.

http://boston.broadwayworld.com/article/Williams_VIEUX_CARRE_Set_For_Pearl_Theater_Final_Play_of_25th_Season_Opens_527_20090416

Auston Marek's film, THE FISHERMEN

2009-04-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

Wrapped filming of The Fishermen this weekend, in Northern New Jersey with director Auston Marek.

The film tells the story of Nick, a young man who copes with the loss of his father, remembering times they spent fishing on the edge of a lake.

Julius Caesar - February & March 2009

2009-03-04T23:59:00.000-08:00

JULIUS CAESAR
by William Shakespeare

With The Aquila Theatre Company
Aquila For Young Audiences (AYA)
http://www.aquilatheatre.com/

Directed by Peter Meineck
Movement by Desiree Sanchez

Cast:

Brutus.........................................Michael Schwartz
Julius Caesar..............................Mark Sanders
Cassius........................................Lauren Davis
Mark Antony/Messala..............Hal Fickett
Casca/Titinius............................Michael Raver

Bryan Parker's Film, One Night Stand

2008-12-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

One Night Stand: A Short Film by Bryan Parker

In Kim Mathie's Words...

2008-11-21T11:35:00.000-08:00

Taken from The Sierra Rep E-Newsletter

People often forget what a largely spontaneous art form theatre can be. In fact, it happens around us and to us everyday. All you need is a hero (you!), a question (will Kim make it work on time?), and an obstacle (rush hour traffic) and then, bam! you have the foundation for theatre. Whether it plays out in tears or laughter is no matter, so long as it plays out. I remembered this last Friday when I took three actors from Romeo and Juliet (Travis Goodman, Michael Raver and Carey Urban) to Mr. Gallagher's drama class at Jamestown Elementary. Michael and Carey performed an impromptu balcony scene right there in that desk-filled classroom. Carey used the teacher's desk as her balcony. It was taller than a regular desk, but still littered with a desk lamp, laptop and detention slips. Michael used the classroom at large, at one point sitting fully on my purse during a passionate soliloquy without skipping a pentameter. Later, Travis and Michael shared the fight choreography and safety points using none other than table legs as swords. See, theatre can be performed anywhere! I mention this for two reasons. Sierra Rep loves to visit classrooms when we get the chance, and while we can't always perform in the classroom, most actors are all too eager to share their experiences with whomever should ask or listen, especially young people. But I also want to remind everyone that in between Sierra Rep productions, theatre--live theatre, is around you and in you everyday. . .and yes, even when no one's watching. So, I say to you, dear readers, be the hero in your life: make theatre!
As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please drop me a line at kmathie@sierrarep.org. We're glad to have you with us!

Caustic Black, Vicious White Shoot

2008-10-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

This is a photo taken on set for a short film I shot in Williamsburg. Played a depressed young alcoholic.

Romeo and Juliet Reviews

2008-10-24T19:04:00.001-07:00

http://www.sierrarep.org/uploads/documents/Calaveras%20Review.pdf i ew.pdf

http://www.print2webcorp.com/news/WesternComm/Sonora-Weekend/20080911/p09_s1.htm

http://www.modbee.com/arts/reviews/story/422926.html

2008-10-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Talking with Romeo
(Taken from Sierra Repertory Theatre's E-Newsletter)

Michael Raver plays Romeo in Sierra Repertory Theatre's production of Romeo an d Juliet. Born in New York City and raised in the Catskill Mountains near Woodstock, Michael Raver grew up as the youngest of three kids in a low-income household.

"It was hard, but my mother was like Rosie the Riveter, you know. She worked hard and taught us to work hard."

Because of this, Raver isn't afraid to work hard to get what he wants, including getting favorite roles like Romeo.

"I auditioned for the part 15 times," Raver says laughing at his tenacity. "I really love the play and really wanted to have a go at it. Persistence was a big thing with my parents."

The arts were a large part of his childhood. Raver recalls having a deep interest in visual arts at a young age and attended art classes from the age of seven. However, he was hesitant when it came to performing.

"The theater was always a bit of a mysterious thing for me as a kid. I loved going to plays. My mother exposed me to Shakespeare and O'Neill very early, but because the notion of a play was so enigmatic to me, I didn't know if I could do it."

But as he got older, Raver's artistic appetite grew. He studied art history, mythology, literature and began writing creatively. At around the same time, he also started doing scenic painting and design on the shows at school.

"It wasn't until I started painting sets that I really got hooked into theater, and it wasn't until I started writing plays that I thought I had any business on the performance end of things."

He started auditioning for school plays, then moved onto community theater, ultimately studied drama at Pace University in New York City.

"I remember my brother changed the channel while I was watching the Oscars and I got upset and he said to me, 'What do you care? You don't want to be an actor.' I remember that really wounding me and it was then that I realized that acting was what I wanted to do."

Raver was interested in many areas of theater at Pace. He worked in a scene shop, ran the prop workshop, wrote more than two dozen original plays and appeared in nearly 20 productions before he graduated.

"I was lucky. Pace offered so many performance opportunities--an unbelievable amount, actually. There were lots of student productions and one-acts going on all the time, in addition to the main stage ones. I got a lot of practice."

The culminating moment in Raver's college career was playing Edmund in Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill. "I decided to play the part "method"," says Raver.

Raver was able to visit O'Neill's house and see photographs that helped him create the character of Edmund, the character based on O'Neill himself. Raver didn't just want to play the part of Edmund, he wanted to be Edmund.

"The character had tuberculosis, so I lost 20 lbs by eating a diet of coffee and Melba toast for a month. I plastered the wall of my bedroom with pictures, letters and text that he had written. I tried to walk and talk and sit like him. I was pretty far out there with it and while I probably won't even approach a role that way again, it was an interesting experiment to see what it was like."

In regards to Shakespeare, Raver has always held an extreme fascination and affection for his words.

"I had an intense Shakespeare professor in school, Erica Gould, who said that the best thing an actor performing Shakespeare can do is simply be a conduit through which his genius can flow. You can prepare character history and physicality and gesture and habitual patterns for them, but essentially that's all you've got to do . . . know what you're saying and just say the words. Simple, easy."

Commenting on the predisposition that Shakespeare is "hard to follow" by modern audiences, Raver says "these plays were written to be accessible to the masses. I think the daunting part is the lushness of the poetry that scares people. It's Shakespeare for goodness' sake! People don't talk that way! But when you watch a group of actors who have gotten past that, know what story they're telling, more often than not, the play can be done for anyone willing to watch."

2008-10-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Mousetrap July-August 2008

2008-08-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.fingerlakes.org/press_releases/articles/7-16-08b.htm
LIVE FROM NEW YORK: BRISTOL VALLEY THEATER’S SUMMER SEASON CONTINUES WITH AGATHA CHRISTIE’S CLASSIC, THE MOUSETRAP
NAPLES, NY (July 2008)Bristol Valley Theater, the central Finger Lakes award-winning live professional theater continues their 17th summer season on Main Street from July 24 – August 3 with Agatha Christie’s classic stage whodunit, The Mousetrap.
“Come match wits with the mistress of stage suspense!” challenges Bristol Valley Theater Artistic Director, Karin Bowersock, “Can you uncover who is the murderer before our detective does?”
A snowstorm strands an odd assortment of strangers at Monkswell Manor, a quaint English country bed and breakfast. The radio announces that a killer is on the loose in the area, and a detective braves the storm to warn the manor guests that the murderer may be headed for Monkswell—or already in their midst.
“The Mousetrap is the longest running play in the English language,” says Bowersock, “The original London production has been running for 56 years! If you’ve never seen it, you are sure to be on the edge of your seat—and, in the tradition of the original production, we ask those who have seen the play not to reveal the solution to the mystery.”
The Bristol Valley Theater production will be directed by Suzi Takahashi. The cast, largely from New York City, includes Michael Frishman and Lisa Kathryn Hokans as the neophyte hosts of the snow-bound bed and breakfast. Their guests, each of whom is hiding a secret, include Eleni Beja as a mysterious woman traveling alone, Jim Ditmars as a seemingly affable Major Metcalf, Pam Feicht as an imperious judge, Michael Raver as an eccentric young architect, Jake Warnecke as the unexpected arrival and Thomas Schario as the detective who must unmask the murderer.

The Glass Menagerie - Pocomoke City, MD Spring 2007

2007-06-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

THE GLASS MENAGERIE
by Tennessee Williams

The Mar-Va Theater, Pocomoke City, Maryland
Spring 2007

Directed by Kaseem Bristow

Cast:
Tom Wingfield.................Michael Raver
Amanda Wingfield...........Christine Fitzsimmons
Laura Winfield.................Kayla Lian
Jim O'Connor...................Matt Williams