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Chocolate Gandalf will see you soon enough, Peeps!
Take care of yourselves. Be SAFE!
EXPERIENCE THE EXPERIENCE
 COMEDIAN
A side-splitting shaman known as The Illuminatus and Mr. FunnyBlackMan,“ranney” has headlined at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Comedy Cellar in Dublin, and London’s The Comedy Store. He was the premiere comedian for “Laff Tuesdays,” which was the world famous Apollo Theatre’s professional comedy club in Harlem. He has shared billing with Paul Mooney, Bill Bellamy, and Martin Lawrence. “ranney” has opened for Eddie Griffin, Kathleen Madigan, REO Speedwagon, and the Sugar Hill Gang.
  ONE MAN SHOWS
Mr. FunnyBlackMan has mounted nine one man shows including Pardon Me: I Promise to do My Best (the David A. Straz Jr Center for Performing Arts and Performance Space Orlando), And the Horse You Rode In On (The Project Arts Centre in Dublin, Ireland), Whatever (the People’s Improv Theater in New York), Cufflinks and Jolly Ranchers for Dummies (the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Glossolalia: “ranney” is Speaking in Tongues (the People’s Improv Theater in New York).
 POET & ACTOR
The Illuminatus is also a room-shaking spoken word artist with insightful, thought provoking poetry. Once nominated for “Best International Poet” by The Farrago Poetry Group in London, “ranney” is working on releasing his first book of poetry.
“ranney” delivers shape-shifting performances with no two roles alike. He is an award-winning actor (2023 Performance of the Year – WAMC Public Radio for his portrayal of Troy Maxson in the Shakespeare & Company’s production of August Wilson’s Fences; 2022-2023 Best Play in Cincinnati as member of Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of Lynn Nottage’s Sweat; 2002 Stage Award for Best Ensembe at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the quintet of The Bomb-itty of Errors that ran on London’s West End; 2003 Critic’s Choice – Best of the Bay – Creative Loafing, Tampa for Boy Willie in the Center Theatre Company production of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson; 2014 Theatre Tampa Bay Award for Oustanding Featured Actor in a Play for Hambone in the American Stage production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running; 2015 Theatre Tampa Bay Award for Oustanding Featured Actor in a Play for Sterling in the American Stage production of August Wilson’s Radio Golf: and the 2016 Theatre Tampa Bay Award for Lead Actor in a Play for Doub in the American Stage production of August Wilson’s Jitney).
 “r” as Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson
 “ranney” as Troy Maxon and JaQuan Malik Jones as Cory
OUTREACH
“ranney” is also an insightful teaching artist with more than two decades of teaching experience. He has taught acting and comedy workshops all over the globe and was with Patel Conservatory from its inception to 2016. ( http://www.patelconservatory.org/ ) http://video.wedu.org/video/2365060845/
The “r” is a the proud founder of The Prometheus Project: Incendiary Theatre of Transformation, a performance technique program focused on the incarcerated. The Prometheus Project ignites pivotal change by giving the participants tools for empowering catharsis.
 ETC
An exceptional stage director with regional theatre credits, “ranney” is an alumnus associate artist with Jobsite Theater ( www.jobsitetheater.org ).
MAXWELL, THE ROCK MUSICAL directed by R. M. Lawrence (“ranney”)
THE STUTTERING PIG directed by R. M. Lawrence at the 2018 RAY WERNER FESTIVAL (Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre).
THE CHRISTMAS BELL directed by R. M. Lawrence at the 2018 RAY WERNER FESTIVAL (Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre).
The BOMB-ITTY OF ERRORS directed by R. M. Lawrence Conservatory of Theatre Arts @ Webster University (Fall, 2019)
As a producer, he has brought central Florida audiences the LOL series, The Unusual Suspects of Comedy, and Stand-up HERE: A Night of Comedy at the Straz.
“ranney” was an insightful and entertaining judge in Disney Hollywood Studios’ American Idol Experience (2009 – 2014), a show that sent numerable finalists on the television program.
A prolific writer of poetry, plays, screenplays, and songs, “ranney” is also a singer and pianist. As a screenwriter, his current focus is on various original teleplays and screenplays including STRIDE a historical dramatic series that focuses on the key figures of the Harlem Renaissance; THE COMEDY CLUB, a fictional dramatic series about a group of stand-up comics who change the comedy industry from 1989 to 1999; and MAESTRO a dramatic series centered around a misanthropic musical savant and his struggle to maintain relationships.  “I love making audiences laugh. That’s the whole point of this walk. It just seems that so many clubs have become joke-a-thons with no thought-provoking residue, no lingering characteristics – just a relentless race to become America’s latest problem child. I can’t go that way. I have to give people a piece of me with the word and share my teaspoon of wisdom for this to make sense. The laughter is a given.” – “ranney“
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| Lubbock, Texasranneyl@aol.com |
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