Creative and Performing Artist
Rayne (formerly and forever “Angela Bey”) is a Black, Non-Binary performer, writer, director, and designer from Southwest Philadelphia. Across mediums, they tell stories of transformation that center Black folx. An artist since childhood, Rayne is grateful to have professionally worked for over fifty arts and culture organizations. Rayne is founder of Upstream Performance Collaborative, a Philly-based theatre company specializing in boundary-breaking new works by underrepresented, emerging artists. Rayne is a F. Otto Haas Award Finalist, Barrymore-award-winning actor, playwright, and producer, and 2024 Leeway Foundation Art & Change Award Recipient. They are a proud member of Ring of Keys and New Pages at Azuka Theatre. Rayne also writes vampire fan-fiction, collects vintage jeans, and often smells of geraniums.
“Though we do not wholly believe it yet, the interior life is a real life, and the intangible dreams of people have a tangible effect on the world” - James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name, 1961
Affiliations:
Ring of Keys and New Pages (Azuka); [former] Rising Writers (Azuka Theatre), Playwrights Cohort (PlayPenn), Echoes (Primary Stages), Emerging Playwrights (Strides Collective), Directors Gathering, and Jouska PlayWorks (Simpatico).
Selected Credits:
[awards/exhibitions] F. Otto Haas Finalist (Theatre Philadelphia) and #blackgirlquarantine (University of California, Berkeley);
[design] sandblasted (Theatre Horizon) and A Hit Dog Will Holler (Azuka);
[roles] Ensemble at Sundance Directors Lab (Sundance Institute) and “Genesis'' in The Light (Theatre Exile);
[words] COMET (UPC) and Finding Freedom (Museum of the American Revolution); [direction] The Taming! (Shakespeare in Clark Park) and Water By the Spoonful (Eagle Theatre).
“Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation.” -Angela Y. Davis, Women, Culture, Politics, 1990
Commissions
[words] new heaven, new earth (Shakespeare in Clark Park)
[words & lyrics] Ever (Azuka & Shakespeare in Clark Park with We Are the Seeds).
"Even with the rest belated / Everything is antiquated / Are you writing from the heart?
/ Are you writing from the heart?" -Sufjan Stevens, Come On! Feel the Illinoise!, 2005
"Baby, I'm a star!" - Ƭ̵̬̊, Prince and the Revolution, 1979
WORD ON THE STREET:
"...the excellent Angela Bey..."
"...equally adept at the raucous and the introspective."
"...enveloping... brilliant..."
"...Bey is the strongest...able to break your heart with a single glance."
"...breathtaking... Bey exudes confident energy from the moment she strides on to the stage."
"It is, in truth, a masterful script, which Bey, who seldom leaves the stage, handles brilliantly."
"...so damn believable in this show that you'll forget you're actually at a theatre."
"...stuns... bringing crisp focus and definition to characters."
RECENT NEWS
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Creative Philadelphia: Illuminate the Arts - I am a recipient of a 2024 Illuminate the Arts Individual Artist Grant.
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COMET at the Barrymore Awards - Upstream Performance Collaborative won a Barrymore Award for "Outstanding Original Production" for COMET. Click here to read more about the awards and winners. Click here to learn more about COMET.
ONGOING
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New Pages - I'm in Azuka Theatre's cohort of playwrights for professional playwrights. It is the first writers group in Philadelphia to make a production commitment. Click here to learn more.
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PlayPenn Playwrights Cohort - I'm apart of this inaugural professional development program for emerging playwrights based in Philadelphia. Read the press release here.
NYC Management: Josh Taylor
All commercial & print requests may be sent to Nicole Allman at Reinhard Model & Talent Agency: 215-567-2000, ext 102 or email.
All others can be sent using the contact form or through email here.
Thanks for visiting!