Ronald Rand

Ronald Rand is an American stage and film actor, playwright, producer, and newspaper publisher. As a U.S. Cultural Goodwill Ambassador, Rand has performed his one-man show, LET IT BE ART! as Harold Clurman since 2001 in 23 countries and 20 states. Founder and Publisher of the newspaper, The Soul of the American Actor. Rand is also the author of Acting Teachers of America.

Early life and education

Rand was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida, and began performing at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Coral Gables at age six, appearing in many children's theatre plays during the next ten years. Rand appeared on the first Bilingual television sitcom, Que Pasa, USA, opposite Steven Bauer, and in the Super Bowl X halftime show in the Orange Bowl, as part of a Bicentennial Wild West panorama as Doc Holiday while Up With People sang, and on the side-lines Robert Shaw and Fritz Weaver filmed a scene for Black Sunday. Rand graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School. Rand received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, studying with Stella Adler for four years. Two of Rand's classmates were Bill Paxton, for whom Rand wrote monologues to perform in class, and Kate Valk. Subsequently, Rand also studied with Harold Clurman, Robert Lewis, Joseph Chaikin, with Jerzy Grotowski at Columbia University, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's summer program in London. Rand began to develop his one-man show in 1995, for which he is best known, called LET IT BE ART!.

Career

Rand’s odyssey as Harold Clurman began with his first performance of his play, LET IT BE ART! directed by Gregory Abels, also known as Sensei Gregory Hosho Abels at the Sande Shurin Theatre in New York City in 2001. Rand performed his play twice Off-Broadway, first produced by J.C. Compton, the second wife of Harold Clurman, at the Century Center Theatre under the play's previous title, Clurman, and then by the Mirror Repertory Company, founded by Sabra Jones, Geraldine Page, and Eva Le Gallienne, at the ArcLight Theatre Rand made his New York debut in 1978 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a member of the cast of Julius Caesar with Richard Dreyfuss, George Rose, Austin Pendleton, René Auberjonois, and Tom Hulce.

Rand's transformation into a 79-year-old Harold Clurman in his play, LET IT BE ART! comes through a two hour transformation preparation in his dressing room, based on Stanislavski's Method of Physical Actions, and Yevgeny Vakhtangov reformulations of the Stanislavski System, which Rand teaches in his Art of Transformation Workshop.

Rand is the first American to perform in a solo play at the International Bafa Arts Festival in Zimbabwe, Russia Voices of History International Theatre Festival, Paysandú MerCoSur Interior Althuapua De Cioppo International Festival in Uruguay, Bareilly International Theatre Festival and Baptizer Theatre Festival in India, San Vicente del Caguán Cultural Arts Center in northern Colombia, Patravadi Theatre in Bangkok, Trade Unions Palace of Culture in Minsk, Belarus, Palace Dar el-Makhzen in the Kasbah, Tangier, Morocco, Cayman National Cultural Foundation|Harquail National Theatre in the British West Indies, Anadolu University in Eskişehir, Turkey, and at the Rangayana State Theatre, Mysore, India.

Rand has performed his solo play in the International Theatre Festival for Peace in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, Kathmandu International Theatre Festival in Nepal, Sarajevo International Winter Festival in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgian International Theatre Festival, Slavija International Theatre Festival in Belgrade, and in the Inaugural Harold Clurman Festival of Arts in New York City.

Rand has completed four goodwill tours across India, performing his solo play and teaching his master acting workshop at Manipal University in Jaipur, Christ University in Bangalore, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Chilsag Chilies Acting Academy, and R.K. Film and TV Media Academy in New Delhi, Anupam Kher Actor Prepares Academy in Mumbai, University of Calicut, Pondicherry University, Sri Aurobindo Auditorium in Auroville, and appeared in Great Mind at Work, a play by the India playwright, Sachin Gupta, at L'Alliance française de Delhi, performing in Hindi, a language he does not speak.

Rand has appeared Off-Broadway in Servant of Two Masters directed by Stuart Vaughan, Perfect Crime in all 3 male leads, Erich Remarque's Full Circle, and in a special presentation from Endgame by Samuel Beckett directed by Joseph Chaikin at La MaMa. Rand starred as Harry in LUV at The Barnstormers Theatre in New Hampshire, as The Stage Manager in the 75th Anniversary production of Our Town, as Captain Keller in The Miracle Worker opposite Marla Schaffel in Vermont at the Greensboro Arts Alliance Summer Stock Theatre. Rand's film appearances include opposite Yoko Ono in her film, Homeless (1989), Another You (1991), and The Jerky Boys (1995). Rand was cast by Aaron Russo as President Richard Nixon in Rude Awakening (1989), by Robert Redford in Quiz Show (1994) opposite Ralph Fiennes and Paul Scofield, and as a business magnate opposite Angelica Huston in When in Rome. Rand appeared as Milton Sterns in A Marriage: O'Keefe and Stieglitz opposite Christopher Plummer and Jane Alexander on PBS American Playhouse. From 2005 to 2014, Rand appeared in Stan Tannen's TIPA Literary Programs in New York City with Ed Asner, Alan Bates, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Marian Seldes, Fritz Weaver, Betsy von Furstenberg, and Tammy Grimes in tributes to Anne Frank, Abraham Lincoln, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and American speeches.

Publisher and Author

Rand is the Founder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper, The Soul of the American Actor, the only printed and online newspaper in America dedicated to the artistic process of the actor and the art of the theater. Founded in 1998, Rand has conducted over 1000 interviews including Alec Baldwin, Katherine Dunham, Andre Gregory, Angelica Huston, Marvin Hamlisch, Julie Harris, Bill T. Jones, Lloyd Richards, Harold Prince, Budd Schulberg, Derek Walcott, Elie Wiesel, Robert Wilson, and Eugenia Zuckerman. Essays have included those by Stella Adler, Edward Albee, Harold Clurman, Eugenio Barba, William Esper, Jerzy Grotowski, James Earl Jones, Laurence Luckinbill, Sanford Meisner, Arthur Miller, Joanna Rotté, Lee Strasberg and Penny Templeton. Drawings by the American caricaturist, Al Hirschfeld, and paintings by Mari Bee have appeared in all its issues. Rand is the author of Acting Teachers of America with interviews of one hundred influential acting teachers, actors, and directors in America, including Anne Bogart, Steve Buscemi, Olympia Dukakis, Zelda Fichandler, James Gandolfini, Gene Hackman, Michael Howard, William Hurt, Michael Kahn, Milton Katselas, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, Sidney Poitier, and Terry Schreiber. For over two years Rand was an editor to Jean-Claude van Itallie on his memoirs, WAR, SEX and DREAMS, Memoirs of a Playwright.

Fulbright Specialist Scholar and Teacher

In 2013 The U.S. State Department J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs chose Rand as the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach at the University of Sarajevo’s Academy of Dramatic Arts since its founding in 1981. During his 6 week tenure, Rand became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach at the University of Tuzla Academy of Dramatic Arts, Mostar Youth Theatre, and the Third Gymnasium in Sarajevo. At the same time, Rand presided as a Festival Judge in the M.E.S.S. International Theatre Festival, performed his solo play in the Festival, and directed a production of LUV at the Chamber Theatre 55 in Sarajevo.

In 2015, Rand became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach at the University of Malaya Cultural Centre's Drama Department in Kuala Lumpur since its founding in 1970, and became the first American invited by the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism and Culture - National Department for Culture & Arts to teach and perform a solo play at Malaysia’s JKKN State Theatres in Ipoh, Alor Setar and Kuala Terengganu. During his 6 week tenure, Rand also became the first American to perform a solo play and to teach at the University of Malaya Experimental Theatre, National Arts Culture and Heritage Academy (Aswara), International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, and taught at the Penang Temple of Fine Arts Academy.

Rand became the first American acting teacher since the founding of Malaysia in 1957 to introduce Konstantin Stanislavski's Method of Physical Actions on such a wide scale across the country at so many universities and acting schools. At the end of his time in the country, Rand was a guest panelist at a Konstantin Stanislavski International Forum at the University of Malaya entitled The Transformation of Acting Style from America to Malaysia with the Stanislavsky System with Dr. Zainal Abd. Latiff, Sabeera Sheikh,Sabera Shaik and Professor Chesley John Skinner.

Rand has taught acting for over 25 years, bringing his Art of Transformation Master Acting Workshop to 23 countries and 20 states. Rand was an Adjunct Professor at Pace University, New York City, and a Visiting Guest Professor at Northern Illinois University, Syracuse University, Gonzaga University, Western Washington University, University of Zagreb's Academy of Dramatic Art in Croatia, Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Georgia State Film University in Tbilisi, Georgia, Belarusian State University in Minsk, Belarus, and at Fairchild U.S. Air Force Base, Joint Personnel Recovery Agency in Spokane, Washington.

Director

In 2013 Rand became the 2nd U.S. director to direct in the 60 year history of the Chamber Theatre 55 in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Rand was invited by Artistic Director Dragan Jovičić to direct LUV, by Murray Schisgal starring Zana Marjanovic, Moamer Kasumović, and Muhamed Hadzovic. The production set and costumes were designed by Vanja Popovic. The production continues to be performed as part of the theatre repertory, and has traveled to Montenegro, Slovenia, and across Bosnia, winning awards in state festivals. Rand directed and appeared in Svetlana Alexievich's A Meltdown from Chernobyl, The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, a dramatic adaptation by Spencer Smith with Frances Crowe, Court Dorsey, Ruth Hooke, Jeannine Haas, Deb Katz, Sister Jane Morrissey, Chris Rohmann, and Jean-Claude van Itallie across northern New England at churches and meeting houses.

Playwright

Rand's play, Let It Be Art!, has been performed in 23 countries and 20 U.S. states. Rand's full-length play, The Group, about the famed acting company, The Group Theatre of the 1930's, received staged readings across New York City, and had its world premiere at Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois in 2005. Rand's new opera, IBSEN, with composer Hartmut von Lieres received presentations in Auroville, India in 2013.

Producer

In 2011 Rand co-translated and produced the U.S. premiere of the controversial play by Spanish playwright, Inigo Ramirez de Haro, entitled We Couldn't Call it What We Wanted to Call it so We Called it Holy Crap, at La MaMa in New York City. Rand has presented Vinie Burrows as Rose McClendon in Rose, Janis Stevens as Vivien Leigh in Vivien The Play, John Rothman in The Impossible H.L. Mencken, Karen Eterovich as Jane Austen in A Cheer from Chawton], Andrea Reese as Jacqueline Kennedy in Cirque Jacqueline], An Evening of Exceptional Poets with Ruby Dee and Irene O'Garden, An Evening with Vijay Tendulkar at The Players Club, A Tribute to Harold Clurman and Robert Whitehead with Roy Scheider and Joseph Wiseman at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Rand created, co-produced with The Martin E. Segal Center, and appeared in with The Martin E. Segal Center A Tribute to The Group Theatre, A Tribute to Jean-Claude van Itallie,, and A Day with the Acting Teachers of America at the City University of New York's Martin E. Segal Center in New York City. Rand created, produced and participated in a Charles Dickens Poetry & Music Program as a Special Fundraising Event to benefit the restoration of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The program included Readings by Mayor Bill Shoemaker of Tuscumbia, Mayor Mickey Haddock of Florence, Judge Chad Coker, and Judge Daniel Rosser. Rand created, co-produced with The Feminist Press and appeared in a concert Book Reading Performance at The Jewish Museum in New York City with Marian Seldes, Elizabeth Ashley, Jayne Atkinson, David Margulies, and Rosemary Harris. Rand created and hosted a Drama Desk Panel Event, The Art of Storytelling, at Sardi's Restaurant in New York City, interviewing Birdy Carvel, Jayne Houdyshell, Kristine Nielsen, and David Hyde-Pierce.