Official Bio

Josie brings over two decades of work as a theatre and dance artist, producer, teacher, and facilitator.  She is a lead Producer on Trevor the Musical and is a former adjunct faculty member of Emerson College where she taught Movement for Actors, Improvisation, and Dance.

Josie has trained Broadway actors from the casts of The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys, Beautiful, Les Miserables, Chicago and professional dancers from Boston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Pina Bausch, Los Angeles Ballet, The Bang Group, City Ballet of Boston, The Cleveland Ballet, Urbanity Dance Company, among others.

Josie has directed and choreographed Off-Broadway and Regionally in Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, and New York, as well as at concert dance halls and universities.  She worked as Assistant Director on the 2009 Broadway Revival of Ragtime.

Josie’s primary focus is on New Work.  She has nearly two decades of experience in devised theatre and dance production, has directed several readings and equity showcases in New York, and in 2019 was awarded the LAB grant from the Boston Foundation to create a new piece in movement theatre.  Josie has nurtured the new musical, Trevor, since 2013 and shepherded it through readings in multiple cities, a premier at the Writer’s Theatre outside of Chicago, and now a run in New York City in 2021.

She is currently part of a Joker cohort for Theatre of the Oppressed, studying with practitioner Gail Burton.

Josie is trained in functional and experiential anatomy, Pilates, personal training, Yoga, meditation, and somatics.  Josie is a level 3 Franklin Method educator (one of the few in the world) and has trained directly with the founder, Eric Franklin.  Josie has been in deep practice with Chakra teacher and herbalist Debra Bluth for decades, has been a Yoga and meditation student of Kevin Courtney 2007, and has been a student of former Martha Graham dancer and acupuncturist Marcus Schulkind since 2000.

Josie has a particular interest in trauma-informed movement practice, highly informed by her own journey in healing PTSD symptoms.  Additionally, Josie has studied bodywork in the disciplines of myofascial mobilization, trigger point, Craniosacral Therapy, and Reiki.

Josie sees movement and somatic work as a healing method of working with our bodies to create transformation that sustains over time.

Josie consults as a movement coach, movement director, and director on creative projects and works individually with actors and non-actors alike, as well as in group settings.

She sees clients in the Boston area, NYC, and virtually over Zoom.

A Note About Press

Like any person in the public eye, I’ve had positive press and negative press written about me.

I’m only listing here the press that I really like.  Why?  First of all, it’s my website.  Second of all, life is too short to spend my few moments here finding reasons to be self-deprecating.

Making work that is in the public eye is hard; opening oneself to public criticism isn’t so fun.  The press part is the least fun part about making work.  If it’s really important for you to find negative press about me and spend your life that way, go ahead. Google and God Bless!

Articles About Josie

Boston Voyager

June 11, 2018

Emerson Alumni Womxn

March, 28, 2018

Boston Globe: Ain't Misbehavin' Review

November 18, 2011

Viewable PDF

Talkin' Broadway: Ain't Misbehavin' Review

November 2018

Berkshire Fine Arts: Ain't Misbehavin' Review

November 20, 2018

ARTICLES ABOUT TREVOR

BroadwayWorld: Inside rehearsals for Trevor the Musical

October 17, 2021

Go Inside Opening Night of Trevor the Musical, Broadway World, Chloe Rabinowitz

November 11, 2021

“Trevor The Musical” Off Broadway Review: Stage Adaptation Gives Joyous Voice to Oscar-Winning Short, Deadline, Greg Evans

November 10, 2021

Go Inside Opening Night of Trevor the Musical, Broadway World, Chloe Rabinowitz

November 10, 2021

Trevor: The Musical, Talkin’ Broadway, Howard Miller

November 10, 2021

An uplifting lifesaving musical adaptation of “Trevor” at Off-Broadway’s Stage 42, DC Metro Theater Arts, Deb Miller

November 10, 2021

Trevor, Time Out, Adam Feldman

November 10, 2021

Off-Broadway Review: Trevor: The Musical, Edge Media Network, Matthew Wexler

November 10, 2021

She Says: Trevor A New Musical About Growing Up Different with Heart and Spirit, Times Square Chronicles, Suzanna Bowling

November 11, 2021

Trevor: The Musical, The Front Row Center, Victoria Dammer

November 12, 2021

“very promising, exceptionally timely and consistently artful”Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, August 2017

“Universally relatable–you’ll find your teen anxiety here somewhere.”TimeOut Chicago, Kris Vire, August 2017

“It’s near impossible to avoid rooting for Trevor!”VARIETY, Steven Oxman, August 2017

Honest, warm and charming! Ideal to see with your own young tween or teen.” — Chris Jones, CBS 2 Chicago

Previous Productions

Animus Ensemble’s Promises Promises: “the Animus production, directed by John Ambrosino, finds clever ways to subvert prefeminist stereotypes, principally (if paradoxically) by playing most of them for all they’re worth — in particular, Josie Bray’s inventive choreography, which makes witty use of go-go girls in tight sweaters.”

–David Frieze Backstage.com, December 2005

Animus Ensemble’s For Colored Girls: “The play moves seamlessly and it’s difficult to tell where the perceptive direction of John Ambrosino leaves off and the equally apropos choreography of Josie Bray begins.”

–Kay Bourne, Bay State Banner, March 2005

Animus Ensemble’s Little Shop of Horrors: “For a different sort of “I saw them when” opportunity, head down to the Animus Ensemble’s fourth season with a new production of Little Shop of Horrors.”

– David Levy, Talkin’ Broadway, October 2006