We sat down with Raymond Cronley, one of our Season 45 Resident Actors appearing as Jonathan/Charles Haversham in our production of The Play That Goes Wrong, opening on August 31. Here, he shares his “why” for being involved in theatre and unpacks what the art form means for him.
Theatre is an internet-obsessed kid’s best friend.
I always had a lot of energy when I was young–too much energy, some might say. It got me in a lot of trouble sometimes, especially when cracking jokes or doing impressions at inopportune times. It always frustrated me that it seemed like I wasn’t allowed to express myself in the way I wanted to. It got simultaneously better and worse for me when I found a couple of friends who matched my energy, because not only did they play along with my antics, they also added their own layers of energy and cookiness to the bits I loved to do.
I grew up in the early days of the internet and YouTube, so for us the pinnacle of comedy meant finding the most inane and nonsensical content possible, memorizing it, and spouting it out to each other on the bus, the playground, or in classrooms. We were all about those in-jokes that caused our teachers and fellow students alike to roll their eyes at us. We thrived on that attention, that honey-sweet mixture of bemusement and irritation. As the years went on we kept up our schtick of parroting bizarre comedy to each other and to our peers, bouncing our energy between ourselves. Eventually that energy would wing off and attract others of a similar ilk, the kids with too much energy and way too much free time on the internet who needed an outlet. Our friendship was strong, but there was only so much energy we could release at school, especially once high school rolled around.
What were a group of nerdy kids with an obsession with parroting media and seemingly boundless amounts of energy to do with themselves? It’s at the junction that I thank my lucky stars we found our school’s theatre club. At last, my friends and I had discovered a platform by which we could all learn funny in-jokes, goofy voices, and memorize ridiculous songs and movements which we could then showcase to the entire school. No longer were we the annoying kids singing YouTube songs on the playground–in our minds, now we could be so much more.
Theatre is many different things: a profession, a craft, an avenue for exploring history, politics, art, and humanity as whole. For a fourteen year old Raymond, however, it was more than that. It was a chance to finally express myself in a way that made sense to me. To use tendencies that many found aggravating and transform them into a work that I could be proud of was life-changing for me. The kids of today are more terminally online than ever before, and as a theatre professional it’s my responsibility to show those energetic and niche-interested kids that there is an avenue here for them to express themselves. Theatre is that avenue, has been that avenue for me, and it always will be.
Raymond is incredibly jazzed to be joining Charleston Stage as a Resident Actor for our 45th season! Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Raymond graduated in May of 2021 from Ohio Northern University with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre. Previous credits include Jack (Into the Woods), Frederick Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein), and George (Sunday in the Park with George). He would like to thank his family and friends for their wholehearted support and encouragement! Hear from him at raymondcronley.squarespace.com / @raymonley