James Ragan has written for the stage with original plays including The Landlord (Ohio Univ. & N.Y, 1971), later retitled as Saints (L.A, 1973) and Commedia, the latter produced and premiered by actor Raymond Burr at Sonoma State University in 1984. Commedia was staged in Moscow (1987 & 2008), Beijing (2008), Athens (2008), etc.

PLAY PRODUCTIONS

• Commedia. Director: Svetlana Lazerova. Prague, Czech Republic (TBA October, 2023)

• Commedia. Director: Colleen Reilly. St.Vincent College, Latrobe, PA (Oct. 29 – Nov. 6, 2012).

• Commedia Director/Translator: Linda Hua. Renmin University, Beijing, China (10/15/08).

• Commedia Translator: Maria Manti. Vonduras Hotel, Kithera, Greece, (6/11/08).

• Commedia. Producer: Anatoly Elizarov. Ballet: Maris Liepa. Trans: Svetlana Makurenova. Theater Russakov (State House of Culture), Moscow, USSR (2/15/1987, 2 mos.) & 30th Anniversary Jubilee Revival (4/4/08).

• Commedia. Producer: Raymond Burr. Sonoma State University Theater. Rohnert Park, CA (premiere, 2/2/84).

• Running on Empty. Story Editor: James Ragan. Producer: John Paul Mitchell Systems & RC Cola. Starring Helen Slater, Judd Nelson, Linda Blair, Ray Starkey. Wilshire Ebell Theater. L.A, CA (April, 1982).

• Saints. Producer: Maria Mirka. Staged Reading, Theater Mercouri. Athens, Greece (March 21, 1973).

• Saints. Producer: Maria Mirka. Theater Vanguard. Los Angeles, CA (March 1, 1973).

• Saints (Retitled from The Landlord). Producer: Maria Mirka. Counterpoint Theater. Hollywood, CA (December, 1972).

• The Landlord. Staged Reading. Producer: Robert Grassmere. Manhattan Theater Club. New York, NY (August, 1971).

• The Landlord. Producer: Diana Paulo. Ohio University Theater. Athens, OH (February, 1971).

Reviews:

Commedia  or  Ardor  Under  the  Arbor:

Rooted, centuries old in Italian squares and marketplaces, Commedia or Ardor Under the Arbor, under the impressive talents of producer Raymond Burr and playwright James Ragan is a raucous wedding feast of improvisation...dancing, singing, juggling, tumbling, mugging, boisterous rollicking, miming, and the most enjoyable theater imaginable.

                               The Times (Sonoma, CA) March 15, 1984

Commedia  or  Ardor  Under  the  Arbor: “A Tour De Force  of  Fun”

I had fun. That seemed the bottom line in the improvisational commedia dell’arte Ardor Under the Arbor. From the juggling and acrobatics which introduced the show to the whimsical song “Is it or isn’t IT (the End) which closed it, the play was a tour de force of fun, replete with the vivacious tumble of ideas characteristic of the Italian Renaissance to which the style hearkened back. The high point of the play, the “Dream” scene at the end, reached to the heart of the psychological subtleties and motivations behind the characters in a way that no ordinary narrative could have matched.

                                                        Sonoma State Star (Sonoma, CA), Feb. 13-19, 1984

Commedia: Burr’s “Ardor” Extraordinary.

When you walk into the auditorium and see a man juggling a basketball, a tennis ball, and rubber chicken, you know you’re not going to see any ordinary play. Conceived by actor-producer Raymond Burr and written by poet-playwright James Ragan, this theatrical experiment is consistently interesting and entertaining, combining a Sonoma County setting with commedia dell’arte, a style of Italian Renaissance street theater that relies on stock characters, identifiable by their gestures, costumes, and masks. The complicated plot would keep TV’s “Knot’s Landing” going for three months.

                                                                          Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Feb. 5, 1984

The following letter was originally handwritten and sent by actor/producer Anatoly Elizarov to James Ragan on the day of the 1987 Moscow premiere of Commedia.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

February 15, 1987

Dear James,

We met some of your colleagues and asked them to take this note to you with our best wishes. We are glad to tell you, that today is the first public performance of your “Commedia.” It took us long, but there were certain difficulties which are not entirely over.  Really sorry you are not here today.  The script is really good, the actors are enchanted by it.  Scenes with the fathers and scenes with Harleyquin are Anatoly’s favorite. Hope you find possibility to come in the nearest future. The next performance will take place in May in a theatrical competition. Our best regards to your wife and daughter, sure they are giving you joy and inspiration.

Looking forward to our meeting,

Yours Anatoly and Olga

Saint Vincent College Review Interview:

“Commedia,” St. Vincent College Performing Arts Center 

As the homecoming production by Saint Vincent College Players, James Ragan’s play is a modern take on commedia dell’arte, a 16 th and 17th century art form which combines complicated verbal humor and slapstick. As Ragan describes it, “it leaves a lot of freedom for improvisation and an impromptu action called the lazzo. Lazzis are the tools of each actor’s imagination and should be generously encouraged, allowing for as much boldness of action, bawdy innuendo, and self-indulgent virtuosity, as can be laughingly endured. The form also allows for ancillary characters to evolve such as dancers, acrobats, shadows and mime. Character and location names can reflect local and national identities and contemporary settings, in this case, California’s wine country. Love, lust, avarice, and deceit are the timeless themes, and the modern world of fated absurdity, the stage.”

St. Vincent College Review, Latrobe, PA, Oct. 5-7, 2012

Cal Tech Theater Announcement:

“Commedia” Cal Tech, Tacit House Theater

Stage Reading for audience by Cal Tech Theater Arts students of James Ragan’s contemporary commedia dell’arte, “Commedia,” styled play staged around vineyards, greed, and the daughter of Pantalone.

Pasadena, CA, May 12, 2013

“Saints” a Play by James Ragan, West Coast Premiere, Counterpoint Theater,  Hollywood Dec. 1972

James Ragan’s new play “Saints” performed by the Counter Point Players, is an often chilling, atmospheric, well-acted hate affair, which takes place in two bleak New York apartments. What does that creepy old German immigrant landlord (from Auschwitz) have against his tenants, to give him a penchant for sneaking in, shutting the windows and turning on the gas? And why does he keep performing that strange ritual with the candles and the two miniature coffins? There is something about Ragan’s play that makes us want to know...A chiller in counter point.

                                                                                       Los Angeles Times, Dec. 21, 1972

“Landlord” Debuts

James Ragan’s original drama “The Landlord” creates what Ragan calls “Theater of Juxtaposition,” which shows inevitable interaction between people attempting to maintain domination as the only real meaning in their lives. Slightly reminiscent of Harold Pinter, the play deals with individual attitudes toward illusion and reality, and depends heavily on juxtaposed dialogue and action. He hopes to offer the script for a New York Off-Broadway staging in the spring.

Ohio University Post, Feb, 1971

“The Landlord, A Difficult Complex Drama,” Ohio University Baker Center,  Athens OH, Feb 1971

“The Landlord” leaves you hanging, suspended in the uncertain other world of the psychological where truth, reality and illusion are the questions seeking the unanswerable answers. James Ragan’s two Act play deals with a drama of juxtaposition where the stage is split with two separate actions and dialogues taking place with each working in relation to the other. If you consider yourself a serious theater goer, you owe it to yourself to attend “The Landlord.”

                       The Columbus Dispatch, 1971