P. A. Wray, (Patti) is a Virginia playwright and health educator; and through Looking Glass Productions, LLC, a company she co-founded in 2004, she became a producer and arts entrepreneur in 2007 when she opened her own storefront performing arts space, The Venue on 35th in Norfolk, Va. Working there for over a decade with the Virginia Playwrights Forum, a new play development program Wray co-founded in 2001, she has produced dozens of plays and devised multi-genre pieces. As a playwright, Wray’s plays had mostly been seen on Virginia’s semi-professional theater, community theater and university stages. In 2020-21 during COVID her one-man show, Nat’s Last Struggle, received virtual productions by Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk, Conejo Players in Thousand Oaks, Ca, and Celebration Arts in Sacramento, Ca. These productions introduced Wray’s work to the whole country. Nat Turner’s Last Struggle, a revised two-hander of the show was picked up shortly after and has been produced in Eugene Oregon, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Cleveland, Ohio, and NYC. The NY production company is mounting a new production in 2025 which will go on tour to other parts of NY, Conn. NJ and Washington DC during the 2025-26 season
Wray recently was a Dramatists Guild of America Ambassador to Virginia where she introduced herself and became active with new play development programs across the state. As a member of Zeiders Playwrights Lab since 2018, Wray has been able to work on two pieces in her River of Struggle Play Series, which evolved from doing research on race-based slavery and its damaging legacy, especially here in Virginia. No One Knows Her Song was featured in Zeiders 2022 Proteus Festival, and The Truth Be Told was in the 2023 Proteus Festival. Wray is currently living and working on her play series in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She continues to work with Zeiders and other new play development programs. Her production company is looking to open another venue to serve playwrights and their works – this time in Waynesboro, Va,
Wray has a BS from VCU/MCV in Physical Therapy, a MS from ODU in Community Health Education, and studied playwriting at ODU.