Who do you know on the Bay area scene who acts and directs professionally, does performance art and stand-up comedy, writes screenplays, songs and poems and plays piano? One clue: This versatile person is the only local actor tapped for a leading role in The Bomb-itty of Errors, American Stage's recently-opened Shakespeare in the Park production. Another clue: He's now acted for every theater company in the Bay area: Stageworks, Gorilla Theatre, the Center Theater Company — and for Jobsite Theater and the University of South Florida. Give up? It's ranney — or, as he calls himself when he's working backstage, R.M. Lawrence. This Renaissance man from Winter Haven, youngest of nine siblings, is increasingly making himself known as a force in local entertainment, whether he's directing Maxwell at the Shimberg Playhouse or performing standup at Ybor City's Improv. Maybe you saw one of his performance art pieces: "A Freakin' American" or "The Break of Dawn." Or maybe you saw him in Whirligig, or In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe, or Tonight We Improvise! If you go to the theater in Tampa, you've either noticed him already or will soon, when he plays Aaron in Jobsite's upcoming Titus Andronicus. And you can bet there will be more — if he decides to stay in the Tampa area.
"I have, more than any city I've ever been in, a hate-love relationship with it," ranney says about his home-on-the Hillsborough. "'Cause there's just so much potential, and I see it as a city in so many areas, and specifically in the arts, fight that potential. … I feel like wow, you know, the seeds are here, and everybody's, you know, sending the dog out to dig them up. … I don't know if it's subconscious or conscious, but I see their actions say, "We don't want to grow.'"
ranney's own growth took him from Winter Haven to New York, where, for two years in the late '80s, he performed standup with such luminaries as Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence. "They have better agents," he says, and then laughs: "But we won't get bitter." He returned to Florida in late 1990, and after some time in Gainesville and Clearwater, relocated to Tampa. "This year … it's been my New Year's resolution to grab the wheel and steer it, 'cause I have in the last 10 years just let the wind take me where it wants to go," he says.
Once in Tampa, he acted all over the area, worked on his comedy routines, became involved with a spoken-word poetry group, wrote the screenplay for a low-budget film — and now finally, with Bomb-itty, made the transition across the bay to American Stage.
It's been a good experience with a good script. "I don't know if it's incidental … that they cast four guys who love Shakespeare, who love hip-hop, who can see the respect there," he says. "And then there's certain verses that are just straight-out Shakespearean. It's really bizarre but it works, it works, yeah, you can see the respect throughout the entire piece."
ranney says the play can unite two different audiences, Shakespeare purists and a younger crowd: "I think the more a person is into Shakespeare in a sincere manner, it will just floor them. But you know, my sister's coming, and she's just so far away from theater, and I only invite her to shows that I know she's going to enjoy. She's going to love this show, absolutely going to love it."
After the show closes on May 12, he intends to continue work on a new performance piece called "And the Horse You Rode in on." And of course, he'll keep doing standup. "My wife always says, to get to know ranney, see him do standup," he says. "I'm laid-back offstage, but I reveal all of my ills behind the mic. The mic is my therapy, I guess."
ranney's "Mount Rushmore of Comedy" includes George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Red Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams. "When they're at their best, it's theater anyway," he says. … It's hard to find a one-man show to top Richard Pryor live."
Will Tampa support an artist of ranney's range? The indications aren't all that encouraging: "It's really tough at times," he admits. "Like, my one-man shows have been my pride and joy; I've done four in the last three years, (without) getting much of an audience, and I know it's because of the type of show I do."
He does not feel singled out, though, noting that performance artists Rhodessa Jones, Danny Hoch, and John Leguizamo also failed to attract large audiences in Tampa. And "that says a lot to me. … I want to stay here, but it makes me feel like I can't," he says. "I can't survive here with the type of work I do, and that's sad."
Still, ranney won't allow himself to get discouraged like some actors he knows: "I know a huge amount of artists out there who just refuse to work in the area, and they're gifted people. … They don't want to put themselves through what they see some of us put ourselves through. … And from a certain point of view, I understand."
He's a one-man industry, a writer-director-actor-comic-musician and he's here, in the Tampa Bay area, for who knows how much longer.
Enjoy ranney while you can.
And By the Way. Kudos to Judith Lisi and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center for bringing a stunning Rigoletto to town recently. Mark Rucker in the title role was splendid, and the production as a whole was of the highest quality. Bravo!
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2002.