Raymond Harris
Class of 2018
Jazz Choir • Musical Theater • Rock Band
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For Raymond Harris, San Marin Performing Arts was where creativity, community, and ambition came together. The friendships he made through the program have lasted well beyond high school, and the confidence and work ethic he developed as a performer continue to shape both his creative life and his career.
After graduating from San Marin, Raymond studied World Languages and Cultures at Salem State University in Massachusetts. He spent a year living in Oaxaca, Mexico, achieved certified fluency in Spanish and French, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. He later signed with a small recording company in Medford, Massachusetts, where he recorded an album.
Career HighlightsRaymond now works as an arts and entertainment publicist based in Oakland, helping promote productions for regional theaters throughout the Bay Area, including Marin Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, The Marsh, and others. His work has also included international tours, book releases, concerts, and other projects.
One current highlight is helping launch the San Francisco Historium Spotlight, a new immersive living-history experience that transforms Pier 35 into Gold Rush–era San Francisco. The production comes from Red Barn Productions, the team behind the Great Dickens Christmas Fair.
Raymond continues to perform as well. He made his regional theater debut with the San Francisco Eagle Players and received a review describing his performance as “winsome, winning, and wonderfully refreshing.” Raymond continues making music and hopes to record another album in the future.
“The creativity you unlock from learning the arts will feed your soul and keep you going. I learned the hustle, grind, and joy of being an artist through San Marin, and it has carried me through all my successes.”
REFLECTIONS & ADVICERaymond credits San Marin Performing Arts with teaching him not only how to perform, but how to work, collaborate, and keep creating.
“The creativity you unlock from learning the arts will feed your soul and keep you going. I learned the hustle, grind, and joy of being an artist through San Marin, and it has carried me through all my successes.”
For Raymond, Musical Theater was at the center of his San Marin experience because it brought so many parts of the program together.
“The musicals were intersections of every San Marin Performing Arts student’s interests. We had a full band, tech, and cast made up of students. I remember time periods from high school by thinking of which musical I was in.”
The friendships he made through the program have also stayed with him. Raymond says the skills students develop through performance are far more transferable than they may realize, whether they pursue the arts professionally or take their careers in another direction.
His advice to current students is simple: try everything.
“Apply yourself to whatever you’ve decided to do. Diversify the interests you have and pursue all of them. Keep performing arts with you always.”
