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Ray Michal professional records
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0.04 m of textual records
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Biographical history
Ray (Raymond G.) Michal was a theatre director and the co-founder of the City Stage Theatre Centre in Vancouver, B.C.
Ray Michal studied math and physics at the University of Manitoba before becoming involved in amateur theatre in Winnipeg. In 1965-1967 he completed a post-graduate course in theatre at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
After directing student productions at UBC's Frederick Wood Theatre, Michal began his professional directing career in 1968 with the Holiday Theatre Repertory company (later Playhouse Holiday Theatre), an affiliate of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company which toured works for youth audiences. He also directed works for other Vancouver-based companies, such as the Arts Club Theatre. Between 1969 and 1971, Michal was the Artistic Director and Director of the School of Drama at Playhouse Holiday Theatre.
In 1972, Ray Michal co-founded City Stage Theatre Centre with George Plawski. Michal was the managing director of the company, and directed most of the company’s productions. City Stage was his primary professional activity from 1972 until the company was wound up at the beginning of 1987, though during that time he had appeared as an actor in one episode of the Beachcombers television series and two films (The Journey of Natty Gann and The Grey Fox).
After the wind-up of City Stage, Ray Michal continued to produce and direct works for a number of Canadian theatre companies and toured "Tonight... Piaf", which had been a success for City Stage since its debut in 1978.
In 1991, Ray Michal passed away at the age of 54.
In his honor, the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards created the Ray Michal Prize for Outstanding Work and/or Body of Work by an Emerging Director, awarded annually.
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Scope and content
Series consists of records documenting Ray Michal's professional life not associated with City Stage Theatre Centre. The series includes records which document Michal's freelance directing career before and after City Stage, and touring "Tonight... Piaf" after the wind-up of City Stage in early 1987.
Records in the series include correspondence, contracts, press clippings, a file of obituary notices collected by Michal's family after his death, and flyers for the benefit performance for the Ray Michal Fund.
The series includes some press clippings related to City Stage, as they were filed with pre- and post-City Stage records.
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Access to some of the files in this series is restricted. Refer to individual file descriptions for more information.