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-nominated actor and director, 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

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Commissions

[words] new heaven, new earth (Shakespeare in Clark Park)

[words & lyrics] Ever (Azuka & Shakespeare in Clark Park with We Are the Seeds).

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"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

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Upcoming:

[direction] Judy’s Life’s Work (Naptown African American Theatre Collective)

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"Baby, I'm a star!" - Ƭ̵̬̊, Prince and the Revolution, 1979