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About Ray Hogg
RAY HOGG IS A HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER visionary ARTIST, THEATRE ADMINISTRATOR AND ARTS EDUCATOR WITH OVER TWENTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ACROSS EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA, AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
Since the 1990’s Ray Hogg has embraced the notion of the portfolio career; working as a dancer, educator, administrator, and fundraiser. Over time he transitioned from performer to director and then again to artistic director - throughout he has maintained his capacity to wear multiple hats and hone his expertise as a Canadian arts leader.
In June 2020 Ray Hogg founded Prime Mover Theatre Company which is dedicated to the advancement of marginalized artists and their work on the largest stages of Canada’s flagship theatres. From January to June 2020 he quickly rose through the ranks at Toronto’s Musical Stage Company - from Artistic Consultant, to Artistic Associate, to his current position as Deputy Artistic Director. And, since 2017 he has worked alongside Neptune Theatre Artistic Director Jeremy Webb as Affiliate Artist - connecting Neptune with people and project west of Quebec. From 2012-2017, Ray Hogg was the Artistic Director of Winnipeg’s 2,300 seat theatre, Rainbow Stage During his tenure at Rainbow Stage he ushered in an era of unprecedented artistic growth and excellence, forged acclaimed partnerships with flagship institutions such as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and spearheaded the creation of nationally recognized professional arts training programs.
Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Ray began his ballet training in a church basement at the age of 17. He received formal training as an actor at the Dome Theatre Program, and completed his training as a dance artist at Ryerson University’s prestigious Theatre School.
Ray has spent the past 20+ years as a high profile concert dancer, music theatre performer, director, and choreographer. He was a soloist for the Danny Grossman Dance Company, DanceTheatre David Earle, Julia Sasso Dances, Robert Desrosiers and CORPUS Dance Projects, with whom he toured Canada, Europe and cable TV as the immensely popular Captain Krankovitch (Treehouse TV’s 4 Square).
After five years on the concert dance stage, Ray moved to Stuttgart Germany to perform as Plato/MacAvity in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats and has since appeared in such shows as: Kiss me Kate, Jesus Christ Superstar, Dreamgirls, Seussical, Evita, Sweet Charity, Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, West Side Story, Ross Petty’s Beauty & the Beast, and for the Stratford Festival, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and My One and Only.
A passionate and active educator, Ray has taught and created programming for the Toronto District School Board, the Halton School Board, the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival, Harbour Dance, Metro Movement, Musical Stage Company’s One Song Glory, Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts, Sheridan College, The University of Winnipeg, and Rainbow Stage’s Music Theatre Conservatory. In 2010 he took over Artistic Directorship of showcasing at George Brown College’s Dance Programme, where from 2002-2012 he was a senior faculty member. In 2012, Ray was instrumental in the creation of The Rainbow Stage Music Theatre Conservatory, which provides paid training and free professional development to artists at every stage of their career
Known for presenting large-scale virtuosic, visually stunning, viscerally moving theatre, Ray has created and contributed to a wide variety of projects ranging in complexity from 5-person street theatre performances and new works in development, to large-scale contemporary music theatre pieces and dramatically complex classical plays on our grandest stages.
During his time as Artistic Director of Rainbow Stage (2012-2017) Ray shaped and re-defined the organization by seeking out the most intensely creative minds to work with as collaborators, creating an environment that encourages and challenges artists to work to their fullest potential, and "lifting the veil" or de-mystifying the organization by engaging diverse audiences in frank, intimate, surprising and delightful ways.
Ray’s work as a director and choreographer has allowed him to stage pieces for two European/World tours with CORPUS Dance Projects, at Sheridan College (Chicago, Damn Yankees), Toronto’s Bluma Appel Theatre (The Death of Enkidu), Winnipeg’s Rainbow Stage (Cats, Buddy, The Producers, Sister Act, Shrek, Little Shop of Horrors), Drayton Entertainment’s Huron County Playhouse & Drayton Festival Theatre (Guys & Dolls, Sweet Charity, Elf The Musical), Neptune Theatre (Mamma Mia, Five Guys Named Moe, Billy Elliot, dreamgirls), The Stratford Festival’s Festival Theatre (A Grand Night For Stratford), and at the Shaw Festival’s Royal George Theatre & Festival Theatre (Come Back Little Sheba, Ragtime).
| Natasha O'Brien & Alex Fiddes in Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story - Rainbow Stage | Dir & Chor by Ray Hogg | Set Design by Sean Mulcahy | Lighting Design by Scott Henderson | Costume Design by Coco LeBoeuf & Harlequin Costumes | photo by Robert Tinker
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ray hogg onstage
Donna Fletcher & Carson Nattrass - Cats dir/chor Ray Hogg
“Four stars! Rainbow Stage’s new production of Broadway classic Cats delivers all of the magic you could hope for in a musical theatre experience… and it does so spectacularly well. Expertly directed by Ray Hogg…”
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ray hogg in the classroom
Professional Training
In 2012 Ray Hogg founded The Rainbow Stage Music Theatre Conservatory. The Conservatory provides young, emerging, mid-career, and established music theatre practitioners essential, hands on work experience in a professional environment and a deeper understanding of professional practices by working with some of the brightest creative visionaries from the Manitoban, Canadian, and international musical theatre arts community.
masterclass
Ray Hogg is a regular masterclass teacher at Toronto's Metro Movement, Vancouver's Harbour Dance Centre, and Winnipeg's Rainbow Stage Music Theatre Conservatory. He has taught master class and coached performers for Rainbow Stage, The Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival, The Danny Grossman Dance Company, Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre and the acting companies of Cats, Sweet Charity, South Pacific, Oklahoma, Ragtime, Guys & Dolls, and A Chorus Line.
guest lecturer
A charismatic speaker, Mr. Hogg has been a guest lecturer at the Univeristy of Winnipeg, Sheridan College, George Brown College, Harbour Dance ATP, Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts. He has sat on and moderated panels for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre (Toronto, Winnipeg), National Alliance for Musical Theater (New York City), and the Rainbow Stage Music Theatre Conservatory (Winnipeg). He has given keynote addresses at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and at the On The Move Conference.
artists-in-the-classroom
Mr. Hogg was instrumental in the implementation of the drama/dance teacher training program “Curriculum in Motion” for the Toronto District School Board, and spent over ten years as a faculty member at George Brown College.
In 2014 he launched arts educational initiatives in Winnipeg which to date have provided arts-education opportunities to over 2,500 middle and high-school students and teachers.
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CONTACT Ray hogg
Ray Hogg is represented by The Talent House. For booking information, please contact: Bruce Dean; 416-960-9686; 204a St George street, Toronto, ON, M5R 2N6
www.talenthouse.ca