LA Weekly: Why Theatre Matters
Steven Leigh Morris
December 6, 2010
"Matthew McCray, center in glasses, and his sons of Semele"
…I have nothing but praise for director Matthew McCray, his design team and the production’s superlative cast…
McCray distinguishes himself as one of the most plugged-in theatre makers in LA.
Matthew McCray, Director of the Year (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Rent” at Chance Theater)
Matthew McCray is a director, producer, performer and video designer living and working in Los Angeles. His productions have garnered acclaim and awards from the top outlets in Los Angeles including the LA Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly, Ovation Awards, SAGE Awards and the NAACP Theatre Awards. Matthew has directed productions and workshops at Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory (StudioSCR), Deaf West Theatre, Theatre @ Boston Court, Chance Theater, The Lewis Family Playhouse, REDCAT, Circle X, Son of Semele, Moving Arts, Rogue Machine, Chapman University, CalArts, among others. For his direction of Our Class Matthew received a SAGE Award, an LA Drama Critics Circle Award and nominations from Ovation Awards and LA Weekly Theatre Awards. His direction of Martin Crimp’s The City also earned him an LA Weekly nomination and in 2007 he received an LA Weekly Award for Multi-Media/Projections for his co-design of Iphigenia… A Rave Fable by Caridad Svich.
Matthew has produced over 50 plays in Los Angeles and three annual new-works festivals for Son of Semele Ensemble (SOSE), a theater company he founded in 2000 and which was profiled in 2004 by American Theatre. Producing highlights include Semele’s 2002 musical production of Peter Hall’s Animal Farm (which took home two Ovation Awards and garnered seven total nominations) and Semele’s 2013 production of Our Class which was one of the most acclaimed Los Angeles productions of the year. As an independent producer Matthew has self-produced a number of his own works including Earthlings and Eternal Thou, his play about network neutrality which was remounted at South Coast Repertory’s StudioSCR in 2013.
As a performer he has performed on the stages of REDCAT, Disney, REPRISE!, Overtone Industries, Theatre @ Boston Court, Musical Theatre West, Shakespeare Orange County, SOSE, as well as on the TV shows Parenthood, New Girl, Will & Grace, Boston Legal, The Cure (pilot), and the feature film The Commission (starring Martin Sheen, Edward Asner and Martin Landau). Matthew has served on panels at CalArts, the Los Angeles Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and LA Stage Alliance, among others. He is the Secretary of the Intimate wing of the Theatrical Producers League of Los Angeles. BFA, Chapman University. Member: SDC, AEA, SAG/AFTRA.
“For over 20 years I ran a nonprofit theatre and venue in Los Angeles. During those decades I learned many skills in production, communication, management, and more. They have become an invaluable part of how I create, develop, and realize new and existing work.”
Director | Producer | Performer | Playwright
