Meet Jennifer McCray Rincon | Founding Artistic Director, Visionbox Studio

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer McCray Rincon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The National Theatre Conservatory at the DCPA was the only MFA in Acting in the state of Colorado. I was there for 18 years and when it closed I saw major hole in Denver Arts. Actors and other theatre artists need training at a professional level regardless of their age or backgrounds. I come from the highest level of theatre training in the US. I went to Yale undergrad and then the Yale School of Drama. I wanted to give back what has been given to me. And in a community where I am a rarity. And I knew this training would continue to help improve the overall quality of the theatre work in Denver and Colorado. I also wanted to continue my own producing work and development of new plays. This was a continuation of my decades of work with actor Bill Pullman.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am from a time in American Theatre that is dying…I come from a time when the education of an artist was everything. Not film but theatre. And reading, writing and understanding text and the history of a particular time was paramount. I have the equivalent of a medical school education but in theatre. I am very proud about my education. My parents came from similar education but not in art. And they supported me in this journey from birth. I also had to work doubly hard as a director in a tine when there were no women directors at all. I did everything twice. I went to Yale twice. I applied to Yale Drama School twice. I was turned down originally at DCPA for tow older male applicants but I came any way and directed a play and proved my self and stayed. I am very proud of my multicultural background. Growing up in NYC, going to Yale during the August Wilson era in theatre and landing in Bogota, Colombia on a fulbright fellowship. I am bilingual and have raised three bicultural bilingual children. My intellect, education and practical experience is of the highest level one can achieve in theatre. But it is who I am as a person. I come from a family dedicated to social service and to helping others through work and in my case through art. I am not interested in fame or glory. But it is endurance and faith as Chekhov says. I stayed in Colorado when I lost my job at DCPA not to be well known or to make a killing but to give back to a community that needed me. I am very proud of 11 years of self employment and I created a company that is healthy and growing by myself with a few strong and dedicated donors and artists.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I don’t really do a lot of things outside work I have to admit. If I am not in rehearsal I would go to the mountains to ski, hike, walk or bike. Telluride is my favorite town outside Denver. I ran a theatre company there for 5 summers that I founded. I hope to go back one day. In town there are now so many great new restaurants and cool entertainment venues. My son is a musician in Los Angeles and I ask him where to go to see music like the Bluebird theatre. Also some amazing museums Denver Art museum, Denver Film Society, Redrocks and now Meowolf I want to see that soon!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost Hollywood and NY actor Bill Pullman. We met in 1983 and have both stopped working together since I came to Denver in 1991. Also my small but very amazing Board of Directors Tom Creighton, Joe Smith and Amber Fries. And in the early years Mike Fries(liberty global media)

. Other supporters have been Brooke Gordon, Betsy Leighton and Thomas Burke.
The actors of the Visionbox Ensemble on our website Visionbox.org Dwayne Carrington Head of the Ensemble. David Walker grant writer and actor, Trevor Lyons actor and writer. Phillip Baldwin designer and colleague from Yale.

Website: www.visionbox.org

Instagram: visionboxstudiodenver

Linkedin: Jennifer McCray Rincon

Facebook: visionboxstudiovisionbox

Youtube: Visionbox Studio