Raymond Bobgan creates new performances that are bold, multilayered, and highly physical through an ever-evolving ensemble process. Raymond’s work has been seen in Romania, Brazil, Denmark, Serbia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and has been featured in American Theatre magazine, Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Journal, and in Lisa Wolford’s book Grotowski’s Objective Drama Research.

Raymond has created many works for CPT including Dream Rust Workshop for CPT and Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America; Frankenstein’s Wake with Holly Holsinger; and Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead, co-produced by CPT and La MaMa ETC (Off-Broadway). Raymond’s ongoing experimentations and creations are produced as The Cleveland CORE Ensemble. His most recent major work includes the two immersive performances: Candlelight Hypothesis and Reverie Oracle. Last season Raymond directed the US professional premiere production of Hanoch Levin’s Requiem, the longest running play in the Israeli canon.

Raymond initiated the formation of Teatro Público de Cleveland, CPT’s resident Latinx/a/o theatre company, Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi, a group dedicated to creating and performing theatre from Arabic-speaking communities, and Station Hope, a community arts festival exploring contemporary issues of social justice. Raymond founded the Student Theatre Enrichment Program (STEP), a job-training theatre program for teens, and co-created the Y-Haven Theatre Project with James Levin, which engages formerly homeless men in writing and performing theatre.

Raymond was the first recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize in the discipline of theatre. He is a two-time winner of the Creative Workforce Fellowship for theatre and music, and he was a recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Fellowship. He is an alumnus of the National Theatre Artist Residency Program (Pew Charitable Trust and TCG).

In 2018, Raymond was honored with the Cleveland Foundation’s Homer C. Wadsworth Award and in 2017, his administrative leadership was recognized with The Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio. Raymond has received the Cleveland’s Transgender Day of Remembrance Cisgender Ally Award and Equality Ohio’s Ally Award. In 2020 he was awarded the Father Frascati Neighborhood Champion Award by Northwest Neighborhoods.

Raymond was the president of the board of directors for the National New Play Network from 2018-2020. He has recently returned to the NNPN board and is cochairing their Strategic Plan. Raymond served the maximum four terms of service on the board of Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for professional theatres and the publisher of American Theatre magazine. Raymond currently serves on the governing boards of MENATMA ( Middle Eastern / North African Theater-Makers Alliance) Gordon Square Arts District Cleveland Improvement Corporation and North American Cultural Laboratory, and the Community Advisory Board for Ideastream.