John “Ray” Proctor

Dr. Proctor is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Tulane University, Department of Theatre and the Department of Africana Studies. He holds a BA in English (Webster University), an MFA in Acting (West Virginia University), and a PhD in Theatre Research (University of Wisconsin Madison). He has played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (The Organic Theatre), and Othello (The Greenbriar), Airline Highway and Father Come Home from the Wars (Southern Rep). He directed Derek Walcott’s Pantomime (Crescent City Stage) and Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind (Tulane University). In September 2022 his essay Romeo and Juliet at an HBCU was published in the essay collection Romeo and Juliet, Adaptation, and the Arts: ‘Cut Him Out in Little Stars’ (The Arden Shakespeare). In January of 2023 his essay Reconsidering and Recasting was published in Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity (Bloomsbury Press). He was the dramaturg for Julius X (Folger Shakespeare Library, 2025), Play On (Signature Theatre, 2025), and Jitney (The Black Rep, 2022). His primary research examines the intersection of race, casting, and the peculiarities and specifics of Identity-Conscious casting practices, particularly in Shakespeare.