Bright Light Cafe - Showcased Talent

The Bright Light Café Presents ...

Ray Malus

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Ray Malus Biography

Question: “Who has been a Nightclub Entertainer, Computer Systems Administrator, University Course Chair, Software Designer/Programmer, Choral Director, Composer, Actor, Director, Playwright, and poet?”

Answer: “Ray Malus.”

"Don't wake me when it's over. I mean, by then, IT'S OVER!"

Educated in New York City (Bronx High School Of Science, Manhattan College), Malus "dropped out" in his Junior year and hit the road with a travelling band. Eventually, he became a Variety Performer, and settled in the San Fernando Valley, California, in 1970. The rest just followed, naturally.

“I just followed my curiosity.” he says. “I never chased money, just went where my interest called me. Somehow the bills got paid.”

Now 68 and retired, Mr Malus lives with his wife of 10 years, Sharron, in a house he bought in 1971.

“With everything else in my life so chaotic, I needed a haven, someplace to hide in.”

Ray says he’s been fortunate to live in interesting times and places. He was part of the Greenwich Village "Folk Scene", was in San Francisco for the "Summer Of Love", and got interested in personal computers when they were still an arcane technical curiosity.

Although not a Dentist, in 1983, while working at UCLA School of Dentistry, Ray developed, and taught, the first course of study in Computer Dental Technology — now called "Dental Informatics".

“I’ve always seemed to be able to ‘Grandfather’ myself into a career — finding something relatively new, and growing with the field.”

Asked about his various careers, Ray gets a bit "mystical", “It’s all really part of the same thing, an urge to create – to make concrete something that only existed in my imagination. Writing, design, performing, composing, teaching - even programming – all reduce to that same act.”

He currently maintains websites which he designed for California Writers Club and his Church — along with his own website. Visit: http://raymalus.com

His writing covers a lot of different genres. Primarily a Playwright (he’s had 12 plays produced), he writes short stories, songs, and memoirs too - and is an award-winning poet.

“I’ll write anything I think people will read.”

Ray Malus was awarded the title "California Senior Poet Laureate — 2010", and was awarded the "2011 Scribe’s Scroll". His Chancel Dramas (6) have been performed at numerous Churches, and his full-length play "The Meeting In Durango" holds the record for longest run on 'Reader's Theater' (Time Warner Cable, Southern California). Another Malus play, "NOIR", is second.

"I love it when my writing makes people laugh, but I'm most pleased when it makes people think. I think all art should expose the commonality of people. My best compliment is always, 'You wrote what I've always felt, but never could say.' "

Mr Malus is currently finishing his first novel, "Ashes In Yonkers", which is adapted from one of his plays.