An insightful conversation with Raymond Caldwell, Producing Artistic Director at Theatre Alliance in Washington D.C. about:
- Theatre Alliance's Strategize, Organize, Mobilize - A Protest in 8
- Creating socially-conscious thought-provoking work that is relevant
- New play development that moves us into community conversations
- Curating and presenting work that's creating intentional conversations
- Moving people to action, investing and working with our communities
- Working internationally, and with activists and storytellers on the ground
- Issues that plague PWIs w.r.t the experiences of students of color
- Thought that needs to go into season-selection at theatres
- Working on 'Blood at the Root' and talking openly about our own biases
- The need to get specific and local in conversations about race and racism
- Advice for artists about being in a constant place of creation
- Creating work that adds to conversation vs. creating about the problem
- Reimagining our relationship with feedback as artists
and his favorite board games!
Raymond Caldwell is the Producing Artistic Director of Theater Alliance and was also a resident-director and lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts at Howard University. He holds an MFA in Acting with a focus in community outreach and developing new work from The Ohio State University and a BFA in Acting from the University of Florida. In 2009 he was the recipient of the Arena Stage Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship, after which he joined Arenaâs staff for six consecutive seasons. A DC-based director, his directing credits include Blood at the Root at Theatre Alliance that received the 2020 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction, Notes on Notes of A Native Son at Mosaic Theater Company of DC, The Frederick Douglass Project at Solas Nua Inc. that received the 2019 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble, and All the Way Live!, a co-production with B-Fly Entertainment and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He has toured nationally and internationally as a performer and directed/developed work throughout the United States, India, Ukraine, Greece, Germany, and the UK.