He is the Founding Artistic Director of the multi ariZoni winning Stray Cat Theatre, now in their 13th season, and their latest production Pluto, that he directed, opens tonight.
He directed The Brothers Size and acted in Year of the Rooster at Stray Cat earlier in the season and directed Seminar at Actors Theatre last Fall. But he also has two shows coming up at Phoenix Theatre this Spring - Buyer and Celler that he is directing, and then he is starring in One Man, Two Guv'nors.
And on top of that he's also the Patron Relationship Manager for Arizona Theatre Company. Phoenix New Times magazine said he was the Best Theatre Director in town last year and it's easy to see why with all of the accolades and rave reviews his productions have received - he's won six ariZoni awards himself. Not only is he a great director, and a really busy man, but he's also one of the funniest guys in town.
Name: Ron May
Where you were born and or raised: Born in Meisau, West Germany (army brat) - raised in suburbs of Chicago.
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| Yolanda London, Cole Brackney and Neda Tavassoli in Pluto Photo: John Groseclose |
What your parents did/do for a living: My mom worked in food service and bartending for a big chunk of her life. Also did Admin work. My Dad and I don't really speak so I have no clue what he does. They both used to be really active in "Demolition Derbies" when I was growing up - which were basically races where they took junk cars, painted them obnoxiously, then all the cars go on the track and ram into each other. The last one running wins. My mom was really great at it. My dad sucked.
Siblings: None.
Family/Children: I have an amazing family of choice and a cat who acts like my kid.
Day job/part time job (if not acting/directing full time): Patron Relationship Manager for Arizona Theatre Company.
First show you ever saw: I seem to remember some horrible puppet show in grade school. The first show I saw that I remember going, "holy CRAP" was The Heidi Chronicles. I cried like a crazy person when Peter and Heidi had that final scene between them in the hospital when she's moving. I still love that play.
Moment you knew you wanted to perform/direct for a living: For a LIVING? I initially went to school for acting. We had to take a directing class to graduate, though - and the professor I had - who I deemed at that juncture in my life the world's best director ever - pulled me aside after the class and was like, "you COULD totally do this acting thing...but you really SHOULD look into this directing thing." I initially took huge offense thinking that this was her tactful way of telling me I wasn't that good of an actor but looking back now, I think soon after that is where everything kind of clicked for me.
The one performance you attended that you will never forget: I saw the final performance Mary Louise Parker gave in Proof on Broadway and it wasn't so much the performance I remember as the people wanting to get in who didn't have tickets. People were ready to throw themselves into traffic and suicide themselves because they couldn't get a ticket to a PLAY. That was hugely and weirdly invigorating to witness.
First stage kiss: With a girl? Franz Xaver Kroetz's Through the Leaves at ASU. With a boy? Nicky Silver's Pterodactyls at In Mixed Company.
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| Ron May in The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs Photo: John Groseclose |
Acting? The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs was a ton of fun. It was admittedly a little weird since a lot of people thought I WAS Mike Daisey so there was a lot of, "yeah...no...that's not me."
Directing? There are way too many. I don't know that there's a categorical BEST but Columbinus and The Laramie Project are way up there - and it likely had to do with the subject matter and what they both did to the groups of us working on them.
What has been the most fun or fulfilling aspect of your current/ most recent show? Working on Steve Yockey's plays are always a huge rush for me. They're so dark and weird and wonderful and wholly theatrical and beautiful and brutal. And then people come out of the refrigerator.
Most challenging role you have played onstage? Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream - when I was cast I had never acted in any Shakespeare before so it was a bit of baptism by fire.
Most challenging show you’ve directed? Heddatron. Because it had robots. Which are worse than live animals. Way worse. Eff robots.
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| promo shot of Toby Yatso, who will be starring in Buyer & Celler at Phoenix Theatre - directed by Ron May |
What made you go into directing after originally being an actor? That professor I mentioned was the catalyst. I also have a theatre hero - David Cromer - who has since my time in Chicago gone on to become a pretty big deal - but I remember seeing his shows and I would go back again and again and again - almost obsessively. His aesthetic - just the WAY he would tell stories - really turned me on to the possibilities of what a director could do.
What was the first show you directed and what did you learn from it that you still use today?
The first thing I ever directed was a staged reading of a play I had written called Broken: A Play In 10 Pieces and it was super dark. Lots of blood and violence and gunshots and way too personal and super mean and just kind of...ugly. I learned not to sigh really loudly when the actors didn't do something the way we rehearsed because they can hear you and you sound like a dick. Because you're being a dick. I also learned that directing something you wrote is a violently schizophrenic experience if you're new at BOTH of them. The first fully "produced" show I directed was Terminal Bar at ASU and I learned very quickly that at any given moment, you have to be ready to do shit yourself. Because even though there are roller skates mentioned numerous times in the script, sometimes people look at you blankly and ask why you ADDED roller skates to the show.
Leading role you've been dying to play: Rooster in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem. I'm kind of totally wrong for it but whatever.
Leading role of the opposite sex you wish you could play: Violet Weston in August: Osage County.
Show you are dying to direct: I'm dying to do a really ugly adaptation of Animal Farm some day.
Guilty pleasure show you’d love to direct: The Heidi Chronicles, probably. Either that or I've always wanted to stage a bizarro Little Shop of Horrors.
Pre-show rituals or warm-ups: I do pretty run of the mill vocal and physical warm-ups. The only "ritual" I have is NOT eating at least 2 hours before a show. I get super nervous and don't want to have to worry about some sort of gatrointestinal...distress...during the show.
Worst flubbed line/missed cue/onstage mishap: I farted on stage playing Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet back in college. Like....AUDIBLY. Romeo's all freaking out and suicidal and I was like, "pfrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt." I think that may have been the catalyst for my answer to the previous question.
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| Ron May and Austin Kiehle in The Year of the Rooster Stray Cat Theatre - 2014 Photo: John Groseclose |
Best costume ever: I had a big 2-foot dick in Lysistrata. My costume was cool, too. (I'll show myself out.)
Your go to audition monologue/song: I hate auditioning. Which is a lot of why I almost never do it anymore. So I don't have much in the way of a "go to."
Worst audition experience: When I DO audition - my nerves do all sorts of crazy crap. I remember one audition - it was for a musical - and like - sometimes you get nervous and you develop, like, a nervous twitch? Well - I developed one in ONE butt cheek. Not both. Just one...dropped it like it was hot. For the ENTIRE audition. I could NOT stop it. Couldn't even stand still or it was super obvious. Horrifying.
If you could go back in time and catch any performer or show, what would they/it be? I would have loved to have seen Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls before it ever became a thing. And the original production of Balm in Gilead. And a Brecht play that Brecht himself did. And the original production of The Normal Heart. And, and, and...this list could go on for days.
Famous past stage or screen star(s) you would have loved to have performed with: Bette Davis. Perform and smoke and drink with her. All night. Forever.
Actor/actress in the Phoenix area you'd love to perform with and/or direct: Way, way, way too many to list. Though I will say It's kind of on my immediate short list to find a way to act with Michael Peck and Anne Marie Falvey. They're both actors I love and frequently cast and I'm itching to get on the other side with them both.
Your personal acting idols: Philip Seymour Hoffman. No one will ever touch him in my book. I also have a huge thing for Cherry Jones. I saw her when she came through Gammage in Doubt and sat up in the balcony so it was like watching this little miniature 2-inch tall Cherry Jones - and it could have been a drag queen lip-synching to a Cherry Jones recording for all I know - but it still felt like an out-of-body experience.
Performer you would drop everything to go see: Trent Reznor. That's not very theatrical, but...there it is.
Current/recent show other than one of your own you have been recommending to friends: I just constantly recommend people get the hell out and go see theatre. I don't care where. Just...GO!
Favorite play(s): The Pitchfork Disney, Blasted, Fucking A, Amadeus, Glengarry Glen Ross, Betrayal, The Real Thing, Translations, In the Blood, Buried Child, As Is...there are a ton.
Favorite musical(s): American Idiot, Heathers, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Little Shop of Horrors, Hair, Book of Mormon, Bloody, Bloody, Andrew Jackson, The Adding Machine, Caroline, or Change, Assassins, Once, Spring Awakening
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| Damon J. Bolling, DeJean Brown and Michael Thompson in The Brother Size Stray Cat Theatre - 2014 Photo: John Groseclose |
Favorite showtune(s) of all time: Way too many to list.
Most listened song/music on your iPod/Phone? Recently? I can't even begin to tell you how embarrassing this is but the new Taylor Swift album is just this side of pop perfection. So....yeah. That. Judge me.
First CD/Tape/LP you owned: Duran Duran SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER and Michael Jackson's THRILLER were my first two records.
Last good book you read: I don't read books a whole lot - but Sarah Ruhl's "100 Essays I Don't Have to Write" was really stunning. And the last REALLY good play I read.....you'll see at at Stray Cat next season :)
Must-see TV show(s): I really don't watch a whole lot of TV. But if you're one of those, "I've never seen Breaking Bad" people - fix that. It's incredible.
Guilty pleasure binge watching tv show: Any reality show anywhere pretty much. I'm kind of a junkie.
Last good movie you saw: I recently watched Blue Ruin on Netflix. It's killer. Super dark. But deliciously so.
Favorite movie: Magnolia always seems to float to the top of the list. I just want to eat that movie.
Music/book/movie that makes you cry: There is a documentary called Dear Zachary that makes me ugly cry like nothing I've ever experienced. And it's brilliant. And it's on NETFLIX. And everyone in the world should see it. At least once. Once for the sheer impact and once to appreciate HOW well crafted it is.
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| Damon Dering and Johanna Carlisle in Stray Cat's The Whale Directed by Ron May Photo: John Groseclose |
Favorite cities: I'm a Chicago boy - so...Chicago. I'm also a big fan of the bay area - love San Diego, love San Francisco.
Sports teams you root for: I hate sports.
Something about you that might surprise people: I'm legally blind in one eye.
Special skills: I have an almost frightening tolerance for alcohol. Which I suppose is a skill? But if we ever end up drinking together and you're like, "hey - i'm gonna keep up with ron!" - don't. Just...trust me. Don't. You won't.
Career you would want if not a performer/director: Something that would allow me to work from home. And not hate life.
Worst non-theatre job you've had: Managing a Wendy's. It was so horrible.
Best non-theatre job you've had: Pscho-social director for nursing homes.
Three things you can't live without: 1. My cat
2. Vodka (or at the very least beer)
3. My friends
Words of advice for aspiring performers: Don't be a dick. Word spreads. Fast. Everytime you say or do something dickish and you think no one will hear or find out? I promise you...EVERYone will hear. EVERYone will find out.
What you love most about theatre in Phoenix: There's still so much...possibility? I think.
What you think needs to be changed/improved/different about theatre in Phoenix: It needs a better way of audience building. The problem here may or may not be tied the work itself - that's always arguable - but there is definitely a problem with cultivating and retaining audiences and public support.
And, the “Inside the Actors Studio” 10 questions:
1. What is your favorite word? It's not a word - but seriously VERY few things bring me the kind of joy that the phrase, "We'd love to give you the rights to that!" does.
2. What is your least favorite word? It's not a word - but seriously VERY few things bring me the kind of despondency that the phrase, "You can't have the rights to that." does.
3. What turns you on? Guys in baseball caps.
4. What turns you off? Arrogance. Senses of entitlement. Which are similar, I guess, but...not.
5. What sound do you love? Any cat purring.
6. What sound do you hate? Ann Coulter.
7. What is your favorite curse word? Fuck. It's so versatile. *no pun intended*
8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? Directing music videos.
9. What profession would you not like to do? Politics.
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
"Shots?"
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