Currently performing as salesman Ricky Roma in Firehouse Theater Project’s revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and with many local plays and a few feature films including “The Contender” and “Asunder” under his belt, Dray isn’t just busy, he’s bi-zay. He recently completed work in “Gods and Generals,” a Civil War film for PBS in which he gets drawn and quartered. Righteous!
What are they working on now?
Besides the small stack of plays and film shorts that Yellow House has already produced, there’s a steep wish list of projects in the works. Up next is a new rendition of “Duct-Tape to Family-Time,” by playwright and former Richmonder Clay McCleod Chapman (opens March 21). This version will be less assaulting and more voyeuristic, Dray assures. Audience members will watch as the family carnage unfolds in Dray’s childhood home on Monument Avenue. Also in the works are two feature films.
How do they get it all done?
“The thing we’ve learned is that you can’t do it yourself,” Kelley says. Yellow House projects are conceived and created by a vast network of actors, directors and writers. The large base of creative friends is the glue that holds Yellow House together. “Someone who moves a chair is as important as the director,” she says.
Why Richmond and not New York?
They worry sometimes, admits Dray, who’s now 26 and not getting any younger: “Are you just staying in a comfort zone?” The two think Richmond’s a nurturing environment and agree that leaving at this point would take them back to step one.
The payoff?
Dreams can take shape and happen when you’re working as independents, and that’s what’s important in the end, Dray says. “This idea becomes a script,” he explains, “and people act it, and people come to see it, and that idea ends up going home with [them]. You can take the VHS tape and say, ‘Once it was my idea and now I can hold it.'”