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Josiah Ray
McCruiston
Director/Performer/
Writer/Community Builder
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The Artist Unveiled
My work as a Black artist is based on the Afrocentricity of the arts (that the arts are not as Eurocentric as we are led to believe). My work looks at three holistic pillars. The removal of cultural redlines, the embracing of the arts from the perspective of all ages and communities, and that art can revitalize anywhere it is present. I have worked as a commercial/professional and community actor and director for over a decade. My work has spanned from improv acting to complete classical works. I strive to see the fullness of Black theatre embraced and cherished. I have worked with the Asante’s Children’s Theatre, under Deborah Asante and Keesha Dixon (ACT now The Asante Art Institute) as a young actor, where methodology became a practical means of expression and joy. Acting became a passion that my spirit responded to. The spiritual renewal practice I learned as a child was more than just a stage play, it was the development of a world, and I could become anything I needed to be. At Ben Davis High School’s Performing Arts Center under the direction of Dennis Goins, I was free to explore the varieties of art from music, theatrical, visual, telecommunications, and public forum debate and rhetoric. All being a proving ground for my work after graduation leading me into traveling and performing. From New York’s Lincoln Center, Orlando Florida’s Hard Rock Café, and Chicago’s Six Flags Great America. My creative work is a combination of multiple mediums and is grounded in the works of Revolutionaries along with contemporary influences. I want to see if there is a way to create this space as a trinity in one place, where we can perform a piece by Black voices, have a community dialogue about the subject matter or reverence to our ancestral roots, and then have a spiRIUTAL experience as a community. I want to see these worlds mingle and intertwine.