...The Press...

BOSS MCGREEDY: Watching Michael Ray Wisely command center stage with his chest puffed up like a rooster’s is a pleasure.” ~ Emily S. Mendel, Berkeleyside

“Wisely masterfully depicts Trumpian politics and style. He’s boisterous, arrogant, and cruel…” ~Robert M. Gardner, Theatrius

“Michael Ray Wisely is terrific in the title role…calls to mind King Lear raging at the storm. This actor can do anything.  ~Jean Schiffman, Bay City News Foundation

CLUE: “Veteran actor Michael Ray Wisely’s charming and aloof Colonel Mustard is unforgettable.” ~ Christopher Beale, KQED

“Michael Ray Wisely as Colonel Mustard declaims his lines as if, rather than voicing incurable daftness, he’s solving all your problems with a steely Captain America gaze.” ~ Lily Janiak, SF Chronicle

OTHELLO: “…the astonishing work of Michael Ray Wisely as “honest Iago, the unrepentant villain of the piece. ... Wisely’s hate-filled Iago shoots as straight as an arrow into Othello’s passionate heart.” ~TheatreStorm, Charles Kruger

…”Michael Ray Wisely is a master of menace, a virtuoso of the two-face; he can simultaneously sport a huckster’s folksy sheen and a bad guy’s too-tight grin.” Lily Janiak, SF Chronicle

IDEATION: "Bay Area favorite Michael Ray Wisely nails every moment as Ted, who initially seems to be the most grounded and “sensible” person in the room, possessing an almost reticent quality. That is until escalating paranoia reveals the true Ted and lands him in a hilarious altercation with the excellent Mark Anderson Philips’ Brock."               ~ Jim Allen, Theater San Francisco / Bay Area

The Final Scene: "Wisely, replete with the Alec Baldwin-like beard, perhaps delivers the best performance of all: his timing is savvy, and he commands the stage..." ~Clinton Stark, Stark Insider

Arms and the Man:  "Michael Ray Wisely is priceless as Raina's father, Major Petkoff, a hapless but good-natured buffon exepmlifyiing the uselessness of the aristocray..." ~Sam Hurwitt, The Idiolect, The SJ Mercury News

Fugitive Kind:  "Michael Ray Wisely stands out as Chuck, the flophouse's alcoholic handyman. There's no role easier to overplay than a drunk, but Wisely lends his character a painful dignity."   ~Patrick Sullivan, MetroActive

A Christmas Carol: "The liveliest supernatural being is Michael Ray Wisely's prank-pulling, Scottish-accented Christmas Present. He makes his entrance in a spray of confetti and gives a zesty performance that is, well, spirited."    ~Chad Jones, Contra Costa Times

The Letters:  "Connecting actor Michael Ray Wisely with his previous performance as Schmitz in The Arsonists  (also at the Aurora)  is almost impossible, so different are the two characters. Wisely unwraps the Director’s motivations at a pace as measured as Anna’s footfall in the opening minutes. Director’s glibly chatty demeanor belies his true intention of feeding her just enough conversational leads to hang herself."     ~Cy Ashley Webb, Stark Insider

Richard III:  Michael Ray Wisely is smooth as silk as Richard’s charismatic co-conspirator Buckingham   ~Sam Hurwitt, Marin IJ

Interview with Lou Fancher: 

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/04/22/michael-ray-wisely-grand-dramas-on-everyday-stages/