An Evening of Monologues, Poems and Songs with renowned US Actor, Poet, Singer Ray McNiece

Singapore Writers Festival – under the auspices of the National Arts Council/The Arts House in Collaboration with Word Forward Limited
Friday, May 25th, 7:30pm
At the Art House, Play Den
Old Parliament Building

Please RVSP to savinder@wordforward.org" or sms 91805501 to ensure a seat.

"The energy he has for each character is impressive and he never fails to
surprise with the variety packed into the show" - London’s Stage and
Television Today

Join us at The Art House Play Den for a performance of theatrical and poetic
works by American Author/Performer Ray McNiece. Ray will feature excerpts
from his two solo theater works Us? Talking Across America, a picaresque
travelogue satire of contemporary characters across the United States, and
Dis, a view of America from the folks who inhabit its lower depths. One of
the leading performance poets and a founder of the Poetry Slam™, Ray will
also perform selections from his four books of poetry as well as new pieces
including an homage to his second home, New Orleans. A singer/songwriter,
Ray will also be playing guitar accompanied songs from his two CDs.

Ray McNiece has authored two books of monologues based upon his solo theater
pieces Us? Talking Across America and Dis – Voices From a Shelter. He is
also the author of four books of poetry: The Bone-Orchard Conga, The Road
that Carried Me Here, Song that Fathoms Home, and Wet Sand Raven Tracks –New
Haiku. With the band Tongue-in-Groove he has created two poetry musicals –
Mouth Music and A Rust bowl Hootenanny, and produced two CDs: Mouth Music
and The Road that Carried Me Here. He collaborated with Shawn D. Jackson to
stage the theatre work – Homegirl Meets Whiteboy. He also co-edited with
Larry Smith of bottom dog press the anthology of Contemporary Buddhist
Poetry, America Zen.

Recent tours have featured Ray as a keynote speaker with Robert Bly at the
First Coast Writer’s Conference, a featured reading at City Light’s Italia
with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and performances with Yevgeny Yevtushenko on
Good Morning, Russia and at the Moscow Polytech, the Russian Poets’ Hall of
Fame where he was dubbed ‘The American Mayakovsky.’

Reviews
Of his first solo theater work, Dis, Edinburgh Scotsman commented “McNiece’s
characters are acutely observed, the speech patterns and mannerisms
perfectly caught.”

In a review from the same Fringe Festival, London’s Stage and Television
Today said, “The energy he has for each character is impressive and he never
fails to surprise with the variety packed into the show.” Dis was produced
by WGBH TV Boston and aired on PBS affiliates across the United States.

In a review of his second solo work, Us? Talking Across America, the
Star-Phoenix said, “His thoughtful writing combines with perfectly timed
delivery to create a powerful wordscape that owes as much to jazz as drama.”


The Orlando Sentinel calls him “a modern day descendant of Woody Guthrie. He
has a way with words and a wry sense of humor.” He is the voice of Woody
Guthrie in WCPN/National Public Radio’s documentary, Hard Travellin’.