Company

Ray Carver has been working over 45 years in the theatre as an actor, director, designer, playwright, and producer for community, educational, and professional theaters.  Working in the Midwest, he founded two small theaters.  One of which was chosen by Iowa State Capitol Centennial Commission to represent Iowa’s theatres in the State Capitol Centennial Time Capsule.  Also, the acting classes he taught were featured on the state wide Iowa public television network.  In Minnesota’s Twin Cities he worked as a director and designer for several of the many theaters in Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area.  As a lighting designer he designed the lighting system for the theater attached to the Meredith Willson (author of “The Music Man) Museum. Ray is the author of many plays, including a  published series of plays used in schools across the country.  Three of his plays based on works by Mark Twain are part of the collection of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home Museum in Hannibal, Missouri.  Besides acting onstage and in film, he’s performed and directed published books on tape.  Since coming to Richmond, Virginia, he revitalized the after school theatre program at the high school where he works and started doing productions for Richmond’s  Acts of Faith Theatre Festival which led to his founding of the Three-Penny Theatre.  Some of the Three-Penny productions have been “Life On The Mississippi; an evening with Mark Twain, “Ghosts; a night of storytelling based works by Richmond Artists”,  “Nothing To Fear”, and “The Rivah Home Companion”.  RHC was a Richmond version of Prairie Home Companion focused on the diversity that is in Richmond.      

In 1985, Mark played one of the stylized Koken in Harold Prince’s production of Madama Butterfly at Chicago’s Lyric Opera. One evening, as he was coming to work, the stage manager approached him and said “Mr. Prince and I were talking about you today”. Mark’s little ears perked up as he waited to hear words of encouragement or advice from one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. The stage manager smiled and said “He said you seem like a nice guy”. Well, it was not what he expected, but he thought it was better than not being noticed, so Mark added the endorsement to the top of his theatrical resume, where it remains to this day. Over the years, Mark has worked with the Body Politic Theatre, The Chicago Theatre of the Deaf, The Dream Theatre, Bible Story Theatre, AnimArt Puppet Theatre, and The Acting Group in Holland Michigan. He was also the mascot for the Chicago Bulls and White Sox.  In Richmond, he has appeared in Three Penny productions of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, Horrors, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Mark is the massage therapist at Montpelier Family Chiropractic and owns a tree farm in Beaverdam with his wife, Kathy Freise.

Ann Graham Davis is thrilled to be a part of the 3 Penny Theatre company, where she has performed in Horrors and Hunchback of Notre Dame. Ann has been seen recently on the stage at CAT Theatre in Ripcord and The Diviners. She has also directed there with When There’s a Will and the Red Eye 10s International Play Festival for three years. Ann is the Artistic Director of River City Community Players (formerly Huguenot Community Players) where she has directed A Little Piece of Heaven; Sylvia; The Gift Exchange; The Dining Room; Christmas with the Goblins; Driving Miss Daisy; and Steel Magnolias; and acted in Mrs. Parliament’s Night Out; On Golden Pond; Our Town; Kiss the Moon, Kiss the Sun; Harvey; and Rednecks, White Gloves and Blue Suede Shoe. She has also acted with On-the-Air Radio Players and Whistle Stop Theatre. Many, many years ago Ann worked at Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts, Florida Studio Theatre, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and Ohio Valley Summer Theatre.

Brandy Stevens is pleased to be part of the 3 Penny Theatre company.  She takes great passion in her art, finding utter joy in bringing stories to life. Brandy joined 3 Penny Theatre in 2016, playing Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Other favorite Richmond credits include As You Like (Celia/Phebe/Adam, Bard Unbound), Sylvia (Sylvia, Huguenot Community Players), The Dining Room (Company, Huguenot Community Players), Our Town (Emily, Huguenot Community Players), Father of the Bride (Kay Banks, Henrico Theatre Company), When There’s a Will (Florine, Chamberlayne Actors Theatre), and Ripcord (Colleen, Chamberlayne Actors Theatre). She is a stay-at-home mother to four beautiful children and thanks her family for their love and support.

 

Ryan Schuyler

Videographer, Designer, Technican

Ryan is an educator who remembers how important the arts were for him in school as a way to express himself.  He is out to ignite that spark in his own students by leading with his own example of getting involved in helping to create theatre in Richmond.