Raymond Todd is a poet, actor, filmmaker and composer.
He is the founder and artistic director of Ivesian Arts, a production company that creates, curates and presents pioneering, genre-bending work in collaboration with its partners: live theatre, performance, spoken word, music, film, dance, painting, and sculpture.
Film Work:
For the past 17 years, Raymond Todd has worked with award-winning filmmaker Peter Josyph and Lost Medallion Productions as an actor, co-director and co-producer. He is one of the lead characters in Lost Medallion Productions' serial film NO STANDING IN ST. PETERSBURG and in the short film HELL. He also co-produced and co-directed ACTING MCCARTHY: THE MAKING OF BILLY BOB THORNTON'S ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, and co-produced the highly praised, award-winning documentary LIBERTY STREET: ALIVE AT GROUND ZERO. He will also be a featured actor in Lost Medallion Productions upcoming SHAKESPEARE IN NEW YORK.
With his own film company Living Sign Films he has written, directed and acted in two shorts: WHEN YOUR LAST WORDS ARE AN ALAN DUGAN POEM… ALMOST (2002) and REWINDED (2003), and is in the beginning stages of production on a feature length film with the working title, 9 THINGS THE POET DID AFTER HIS MOTHER LEFT THE PLANET.
Theatre Work:
Recent work includes his one-act, DEAR WHOEVER IS LISTENING, at Chatterton's Short Play Lab in NYC; his monologue with improvised music, MY FATHER’S RED WAGON, at ABC No Rio; and his monologue series, THE SECRET NOTEBOOKS at The Yippie Museum Café. Sequels to MY FATHER’S RED WAGON, and more monologues from THE SECRET NOTEBOOKS are forthcoming, as well as a series of dramatic dialogues entitled TWO IN ASTORIA.
Raymond Todd was a core founding member of Victory Repertory Theatre, where he acted in more than 35 productions. Roles included Poe in A TELL-TALE POE, a one-man show about the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe, Bartleby in BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER, and Old Prospector in FREUD IN SNEAKERS. For two years he was the Artistic Director of The New England Touring Theatre, where he acted and directed several tours of educational theatre in the schools from the top of Maine down to the almost bottom of Maryland. He has also worked as a character actor with various interactive theatre companies, including Mystery Café and New York Dinner Theatre. He has worked with several improv troupes in clubs throughout NYC and Long Island.
Spoken Word and Music Work:
Since 2005, Raymond Todd has been performing in poetry and music events involving other poets, musicians, composers, and performance artists at venues throughout NYC, including: The Spoken Word Cafe, Orwell Cafe, Freddie's, NuBlu, Bowery Poetry Club, Shrine, C.O.M.A. and dozens of others.
He was a poet and composer in residence at Goodbye Blue Mondays where his compositions QUAKER MEETING HOUSE and SEVEN DEADLY SINS had their premieres in 2007
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Work on recordings include MONEY TOWN (2007), an album recorded live at Monkey Town with guitarist Sten Hostfalt's band G- Factor, ASTHMA SKY (2009), an album by Milan Mumin, where he recorded his own tracks as a "special guest."
Most recently his work includes performances and recordings as a trombonist and spoken word artist with bassist Tom Blatt’s bands, The Project and Naked Women. An as yet unreleased album, NAKED, includes spoken word performances by Raymond’s performance character, Father Charlie… the world is not ready…
Audio Book Work:
From 1997-2007, Raymond Todd narrated some 70+ unabridged audiobooks, titles included: SURELY YOU’RE JOKING MR FEYNMAN!; THE DEERSLAYER, THE DENIAL OF DEATH, THE ROAD TO 9/11, and Erich Fromm’s THE ART OF LIVING, among many others.
Poetry and Prose Work:
Raymond has written three collections of poetry, TONGUE OF BIRDS, VENTRILOQUIST MAN: SHOUTING IN THE BOG, and FAINTING AT THE INQUISTION; a trio of long short stories, TOM, DICK and HARRY; and a chapbook, HOUSE OF BABEL. He is currently at work on a novel, OLMSTEAD’S SILENCE.
His poetry and essays have appeared in Cafe Review, Art Mag, Southwestern American Literature, STAC, and other journals. Other publications include STRAW BRIDGE, a collaborative poem with Kevin Larkin, and a book of essays about artists Peter Josyph and Kevin Larkin, JOSYPH AND LARKIN: XMEN OF ART.