Ronald Rand is an American stage and film actor,
Early life and education
Rand was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida, and began performing at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Coral Gables at age six, appearing in over 200 children's theatre plays over ten years. Rand graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School. A graduate of New York University Tisch School of the Arts in New York City, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, studying with
Stella Adler. Two of Rand's classmates were
Bill Paxton, for whom Rand wrote monologues to perform in class, and
Kate Valk. Subsequently, Rand also studied with Harold Clurman, Robert Lewis,
Joseph Chaikin, with
Jerzy Grotowski at Columbia University, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's summer program in London. Rand began developing his one-man show in 2000, for which he is best known, called "Let It Be Art!"
Career
Rand's odyssey as Harold Clurman began with his first performance of his play, "Let It Be Art" directed by Gregory Abels, at the Sande Shurin Theatre in New York City in 2001. Rand performed his play in three productions
Off-Broadway, first at the Sande Shurin Theatre, at the Century Center Theatre under the play's previous title, Clurman, produced by J.C. Compton, the second wife of Harold Clurman, and then by the Mirror Repertory Company at the ArcLight Theatre. Rand made his New York debut in 1978 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a member of the cast of Julius Caesar with
Richard Dreyfuss, George Rose,
Austin Pendleton, René Auberjonois, and
Tom Hulce.
Rand's transformation into a 79-year-old Harold Clurman in his play, Let It Be Art! comes through a two-hour transformation process in his dressing room, based on Konstantin Stanislavski's Method of Physical Actions.
Rand has performed in Let It Be Art! in 27 countries and represented the United States in the 8th Theatre Olympics performing in his solo play at the Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi, and Tagore Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rand starred as Harry in Luv at The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, New Hampshire, as The Stage Manager in the 75th Anniversary production of Our Town (2013), as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker opposite Marla Schaffel (2014), and as Polonius in Hamlet opposite Nicole Ansari (2015), in Vermont at the Greensboro Arts Alliance Summer Stock Theatre in Greensboro, Vermont.
Educator
The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs chose Rand as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar during 2021–2025.
Rand was also chosen as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar during 2013–2018. Rand has received four Fulbright Awards.
In 2013 he became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach for six weeks at the University of Sarajevo's Academy of Dramatic Arts, University of Tuzla Academy of Dramatic Arts, Mostar Youth Theatre, and the Druga Gimnazija, an IB World School in Sarajevo.
In 2015, he became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach for six weeks at the University of Malaya Cultural Centre Drama Department in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Rand was the first American invited by the Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara, known as the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism and Culture – National Department for Culture & Arts to teach and perform at Malaysia's JKKN State Theaters in
Ipoh,
Alor Setar and
Kuala Terengganu. In Kuala Lumpur, Rand was invited to teach and perform at the National Arts Culture and Heritage Academy Aswara, Islamic International University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA, and to teach at the
Penang Temple of Fine Arts Academy. In 2017 he became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach four 7-hour master acting workshops using Constantin Stanislavsky's "Method of Physical Actions" chart for five weeks at the Taller de Teatro in Paysandu,
Uruguay, and taught two workshops for ages nine to fifteen at the Family Instituto y Colegio de Inglés in Paysandu, performed in his solo play, and directed an
adaptation of the play,
Our Town by
Thornton Wilder in Spanish with Spanish actors. In 2024, Rand was invited as the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach for six weeks in seven different classes at the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras, Greece. Rand taught his master workshop at the Drama School of Patras, and at the Lithographeion Theatre in Patras. He was an adjunct professor of Acting and Directing at
Pace University in New York City for four years, an Adjunct professor of Acting at Northern Illinois University, and adjunct professor of Theatre History at the University of North Alabama. He has brought his solo play and Art of Transformation Master Acting Workshop to 27 countries and 21 states, including Gonzaga University, Western Washington University, University of Missouri in Columbia, University of Alaska, Syracuse University,
Lycoming College, Louisiana State University, University of Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art,
University of Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art – Croatia, Anadolu University in Eskişehir, [[Turkey, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in Athens, Greece, University of the Visual and Performing Arts – Colombo, Sri Lanka, Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University –
Tbilisi, Georgia, Belarusian State University –
Minsk,
Belarus, National Theatre of British West Indies – Cayman National Cultural Foundation,
IB World School – Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, National School of the Arts in
Johannesburg, South Africa,
Auroville – India, and taught his workshop at the 37th International Festival of University Theatre FITUC, Casablanca, Morocco, when he was the President of the Jury for the festival, in The Business School at the University of North Carolina Asheville, The InterBeing Festival at the Samasati Sanctuary Wellness Center in Weaverville, North Carolina, at several community theaters across America,
and at the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency – Fairchild U.S. Air Force Base. Rand, an acrylic painter, had originally studied at the Arts Students League in New York City in the late 1970s, gave a talk and painting demonstration on bark for The Shoals Artists Guild at the Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts, in the Arts Alive Festival, Florence, Alabama in 2019. His artworks were on display in the Annual Art Students League of New York Salon in New York City, Mostly Blues Exhibit at Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, Florence, Alabama, in the ArtWorks Exhibit at The Tennessee Valley Art Museum in Tuscumbia, Alabama (2019–2021),
and in The Art Guild's Art Shows at the Hendersonville County Public Library,
North Carolina in 2025.
Publisher, author, poet, and librettist
Rand is the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of the newspaper,
The Soul of the American Actor (founded in 1998),
the only printed and online newspaper in America dedicated to the artistic process of the actor and the art of theater.
Rand has conducted over 1000 interviews including
Alec Baldwin,
Theodore Bikel,
Lee Blessing,
Claire Bloom, Kate Burton,
Rita Gam,
Andre Gregory,
George Grizzard,
Charles Grodin, A.R. Gurney, Marcia Gay Harden, Kitty Carlisle Hart,
Geoffrey Holder,
Celeste Holm,
Anjelica Huston,
Valerie Harper, Ruben Santiago-Hudson,
Judith Ivey,
Kevin Kline,
Jackie Mason,
Terrence Mann,
Lloyd Richards,
Cliff Robertson, Maureen Stapleton,
Peter Weller, and
Elie Wiesel.
Essays have included those by Stella Adler,
Edward Albee, Harold Clurman,
Eugenio Barba, William Esper,
Jerzy Grotowski, James Earl Jones, Laurence Luckinbill,
Sanford Meisner,
Arthur Miller, and
Lee Strasberg.
Rand is the author of three books.
Create! How Extraordinary People Live to Create and Create to Live, Finalist for the Indies Book of the Year Awards for Performing Arts & Music and Finalist in the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards, is a collection of over 100 interviews exploring the creative process of many of the world's most acclaimed actors, actresses, artists, choreographers, composers & lyricists, dancers, directors, educators, musicians, playwrights, poets, singers, and writers of our time, including
Carol Burnett,
Ellen Burstyn, Martha Carpenter,
Dick Cavett, Brian Cox,
Ossie Davis,
Ruby Dee,
Katherine Dunham,
Michael Frayn,
Kelsey Grammer,
Joel Grey,
Marvin Hamlisch, Julie Harris,
Chaka Khan, Odile Gakire Katese, Everett Raymond Kinstler,
Stephen Lang,
Jane Maxwell,
Patricia Neal,
Jerry Orbach, Christopher Plummer,
Luise Rainer,
Tony Randall,
Phylicia Rashad,
Chita Rivera, Apriana Taylor,
Ben Vereen, Sir
Derek Walcott, Robert Wilson, and
Eugenia Zukerman.
His second book is
Acting Teachers of America with interviews of one hundred influential acting teachers, actors, and directors in America, including
Anne Bogart,
Steve Buscemi,
Olympia Dukakis,
Zelda Fichandler,
James Gandolfini,
Gene Hackman, Michael Howard,
William Hurt, Michael Kahn,
Milton Katselas,
Laura Linney,
Edward Norton,
Sidney Poitier, and
Terry Schreiber.
Rand's third book, Solo Transformation on Stage: A Journey into the Organic Process of the Art of Transformation, includes a foreword by
Stephen Lang, Ronald Rand's two-hour transformation into Harold Clurman, Rand's personal experiences with his teachers, Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, and Jerzy Grotowski, life-changing ‘moments of depth’ from some of the world's memorable performers including
Cicely Tyson,
Paul Robeson,
Ira Aldridge, James Earl Jones,
Sidney Poitier,
John Barrymore,
Laurette Taylor, and
Marlon Brando, and over twenty interviews including Christopher Plummer,
Eve Ensler,
Ben Vereen,
Billy Crudup,
Adrienne Barbeau,
Olympia Dukakis,
Hershey Felder, Marga Gomez,
Spalding Gray, Stephen Lang, Tony Lo Bianco, Laurence Luckinbill,
Angelica Page, Elizabeth van Dyke, Jean-Claude van Itallie, and
Julie Harris.
As a poet, Rand's poetry appeared in
Where the Mind Dwells: Salvation, and in Huntsville Literary Association's magazine,
Poem. Rand created the
libretto for a new opera, IBSEN, about the final days of
Henrik Ibsen, opera score by German composer, Hartmut von Lieres.
Director and producer
In 2013 Rand became the second U.S. director to direct in the 60-year history of the historic Chamber Theatre 55 in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Rand was invited by the Director of Chamber Theatre 55, Dragan Jovicic, to direct Murray Schisgal's comedy, LUV, translated by Mirjana Jovicic. The cast included Muhamed Hadzovic, Moamer Kasumovic, and Zana Marjanovic. The set and
Costume designer were designed by Vanja Popovic.
The production was performed as part of the theatre repertory for eight sold-out years in repertory, and traveled to
Montenegro,
Slovenia,
Croatia, Serbia, and across Bosnia & Herzegovina, winning awards in state festivals.
Rand became the first American director to direct at the Aras Theatre in Paysandu, Uruguay. He directed an adaptation from the
Pulitzer Prize winning play, Our Town by Thornton Wilder translated by Ilse Olivera into Spanish, (a language he does not speak), with actors of Paysandu.
Rand conceived and directed a site-specific interactive performance, "Living Roots: Who We Are" with the students of the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras performing in Greek in the lobby of the University of Patras Conference Center. Rand produced and co-translated the American
premiere of Spanish playwright, Inigo Ramirez de Haro's most controversial play, "We Couldn't Call It What We Wanted To Call It, So We Called It Holy Crap!!" starring Stephen Mo Hanan at La MaMa, E.T.C. directed by Erica Gould in New York City in 2011.
Rand directed and appeared in A Meltdown from
Chernobyl, The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich, a dramatic adaptation by Spencer Smith with
Frances Crowe, Ruth Hooke, Sister Jane Morrissey, and Jean-Claude van Itallie across northern
New England at churches and meeting houses.
Rand created and moderated a Drama Desk Panel Event, The Art of
Storytelling, at Sardi's Restaurant in New York City, interviewing
Bertie Carvel,
Jayne Houdyshell,
Kristine Nielsen, and David Hyde-Pierce.
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