Joyful Raven
Joyful Raven is an actor, director and comedian based in Oakland, California. Born into a family of iconic radical theater artists, she grew up on stage where she was forced into political positions and animal leotards long before she was a consenting adult. Due to this unusual childhood, she brings to her work a unique body of experience gained from three decades collaborating and creating theater with members of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and Dell’ Arte International. Her last solo comedy Tales of a Sexual Tomboy was dubbed “…one of the funniest shows now on display on Bay Area stages” by the SF Chronicle. Tomboy also won “BEST OF THE FRINGE” at the 2016 San Francisco Fringe Festival and was awarded an ‘ENCORE PERFORMANCE’ at the 2017 United Solo Festival in NYC. Her additional theatre credits include lead actor and co-author of four plays for “PRIZE OF HOPE ’’ winning company Human Nature and co-founder of the ensemble-driven theatre company Rococo Risqué, winner of SF Weekly BEST THEATER ENSEMBLE. Joyful has also appeared as an actor in many projects on stage and film, including Odyssey Works, an immersive theatre project; The Pursuit of Happiness, with Will Smith; and Spring Awakening, directed by Broadway and West End director Stafford Arima. She studied theater at Sarah Lawrence College in NY and holds an MFA in theater from UC Davis. She teaches Solo Performance and Storytelling at Berkeley Rep School of Theater and privately in her own studio in Oakland.
