Max Raymond (he/him) is a gay trans man, writer, actor, educator, producer, director, theatre administrator, and creative consultant living in NYC. He holds a B.A. in Communication Media, Arts Entrepreneurship, and Vocal Performance from NC State University, and has worked with theatre companies throughout North Carolina and New York. Max is currently rehearsing Let’s Hear It For the Boys: A Transmasc Cabaret, which he is also co-producing (with Charlie Hano/Hano Casting LLC). He recently originated the role of One in the World Premiere of In Camera with Troy Foundry Theatre and the role of the Dungeon Master in the World Premiere of In the Castle of Eternal Sunset: A Module for Ten 0th Level Characters, a new two-hander play by Charles Green that changed from performance to performance according to the roll of a d20 die. Before that, he originated the role of Archie Andrews in the World Premiere of Archie’s Weird Parody, a new musical by Neil Klein. Max collaborated with Neil to rewrite the book to make Archie a canonically gay trans character (read more about the process here). Outside of performing, he is the Director of Communications at Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. He is also a spring 2024 NY4CA Artist Advocacy Resident.
Max is the recipient of a 2022-2023 Echoes Playwriting Fellowship through Primary Stages, a member of The PlayGround Experiment’s Literary Advisory Council, a Mentor with the Sam & Devorah Foundation for Trans Youth and the Trans Empowerment Project, an alumni Mentor with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition’s Trans Leadership Academy, and an alumni ensemble member of the NYC- and Chicago-based Social Justice Improv Project. He has taught vocal performance, piano, and music theory to students of all ages, with a special focus on TGNC students, as a freelance private instructor, and is available for hire as a freelance gender consultant and trans literacy trainer. He recently performed in the short film 808 (in post-production), about safety in queer nightlife, written by JJ Maley and directed by Sierra Schnack, as well as the short films Possessive Nature, directed by Rachael Silberman, Capricious Company and The Hat Box, both written and directed by A.J. Ogilvie. As an actor, recent projects also include Frailty, Thy Name, an adaptation of Hamlet, for the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival, in which he played a trans Hamlet, and Burning Coal Theatre Company’s annual New Play Festival, KidsWrite.
As a freelance director, he directed Sarah Billings’ Funeral Jane for the North Carolina Women’s Theatre Festival, and several original works for KidsWrite, and he conceived, co-produced, and directed NC State University’s annual Murder Mystery Dinner event in its first two years. He worked as the first annual Assistant to Artistic Director Patrick Torres at Raleigh Little Theatre, serving as Assistant Director on RLT’s production of Perfect Arrangement, and he is a Co-Founding Artistic + Creative Director of Star Pocket Theatre, a Raleigh-based company committed to exploring diverse identities through accessible storytelling. Through Star Pocket, he co-produced Mashallah: Exploring Middle Eastern Identities in America, a storytelling event, and Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding, in which he also starred as Frankie Addams. He has since lead produced The Gaza Monologues and co-produced (with Karl Saint Lucy) From Shakespeare to Gaza: Performances for Palestine at The People’s Forum in NYC.
In 2019, he worked as Chautauqua Theater Company’s Artistic/Marketing Associate + House Manager, Educator in Residence, and Assistant Director of their New Play Workshop production of Agent 355. From 2018-2019, he worked as Triad Stage’s Marketing/Development Associate + House Manager. His extensive nonprofit involvement has included work with 826DC, India’s Sehgal Foundation, the New York Neo-Futurists, and The Drama League. He volunteers with MeForWe and PFLAG.
Max has profiles on Actors Access, Backstage, Ring of Keys, RISE Theatre Directory, and The Parity Database.
“I believe in theatre as a means of transforming a culture. My most formative education has come from trading stories on the stage. I feel that I am carrying on a great legacy every time I create this work: I am baring my soul to an audience, and together we are expanding our connections and, in a way, creating a living organism together — the living organism of the theater. Years ago, I was amazed to learn that audiences’ heart rates synchronize during a show. This has stuck with me: the idea that a story could be powerful enough to take the shape of the body. To have its own pulse. What is that if not magic, spirit, God?
My work is an ongoing exercise in meeting myself in other people, in finding common ground. I admit that I often feel more invested in the lives of fictional characters than in my own life. I am most vibrantly alive when I am living in a character. I become obsessed with them. They never leave me.
There is something revolutionary about being receptive, attentive, and open in a world that encourages us to be hard, to conceal our truest selves. I consider these qualities to be my greatest strength and my rebellion. For me, there is no thrill like feeling deeply. It is this thrill that brings me back to theatre, again and again.” —Max