Richard Abanes is an artist of many talents: singer; actor; dancer; painter; playwright; photographer; musician; composer; lyricist.
Continue reading on this page to learn more about Richard’s impressive career and many accomplishments. Click HERE to access his author, researcher, and editor CV. Click HERE to access his actor, dancer, singer resume. Click the top links to enjoy Richard’s art, photography, music, videos, and books.
Since the days of his youth, when he was a singer/dancer on Broadway,
Richard has been using his many talents to produce various creative works of art: photographs, paintings, books, plays, and musical compositions.
He believes that the various talents we all possess are not truly ours, but are merely gifts that we have been given to share with others. Richard sees his life as a clock that is constantly moving forward hour by hour. And as time passes, it is his hope to create fresh works of artistry inspired by each new day he experiences. In order to do this, he is constantly shifting his focus from one talent to the next, producing from out of each particular gift, something that will not only be fulfilling for him, but perhaps life-changing for others.
“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul”
— Dieter F. Uchtdorf —
“You can’t use up creativity.
The more you use the more you have”
— Maya Angelou —
“Don’t think about making art,
just get it done.
Let everyone else decide
if it’s good or bad. . . .
While they are deciding,
make even more art”
— Andy Warhol —
ART
Richard has been an avid painter for many years. Only recently, however, has he felt comfortable bringing these works to the public. In 2019, for instance, he blended his skills as a painter with his talent as a playwright by incorporated into his new play, Five Women, some of his own paintings. They were featured as works of art done by one of the play’s characters. These paintings were publicly viewed for the first time when they appeared onstage during the play’s run at The New York Theater Festival. Five Women won the festival’s Best Actress award and went on to win Honorable Mention in the “Best New Script” category of the 2019 Writer’s Digest writing competition.
To see more ART, click HERE.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Richard began enjoying the art of photography while still just a teenager. His interest in this hobby motivated him to always keep an eye out for unique places, interesting angles, fascinating textures, and scenes that he could capture to tell a story, impart a message, or provoke an emotion.
To see more PHOTOS, click HERE.
Desert Mourning (Arches National Park)
Serenity (Beacon, NY)
East Side Sunrise (New York, NY)
Windows of the Soul (New York, NY)
MUSIC
“Music in itself is healing.”
– Billy Joel
“Music is the universal language of mankind.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Music speaks, where words fail.”
– Hans Christian Anderson
“Music is the art most nigh to tears and memory.”
– Oscar Wilde
“Music is the language of the spirit.”
– Kahil Gibron
Richard began writing music the first day his parents gave him a piano for his 16th birthday. Since then, he has written many songs that are filled with spiritually moving and deeply thoughtful lyrics. His musical influences date back to the late-1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, when lyrics were extremely poetic in style. His favorite artists include some of the most famous/classic singers and composers of pop/rock music: James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel, Bread, Chicago, The Beatles, Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, Journey, Air Supply, Queen, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Elton John, Chris Cross, REO Speedwagon, Phil Collins, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Sedaka, Seals & Crofts, John Denver, and many others. Richard has produced three albums/CDs of original inspirational music. His most recent album, There Is A God (released in 2016), is available from Watchfire Music. He is currently working on a new musical.
For more MUSIC, click HERE.
BROADWAY SINGS FOR PRIDE (2016)
VIDEOS
Here’s a performance video from the 2016 charity event, Imagine, which took place just one week after that year’s tragic mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. The show was presented by Broadway Sings for Pride, which puts on an annual event to raise funds for the LGBTQ community: “Through song, dance, motivational speeches and even a stand-up routine, performers championed diversity and equality, promoting the idea of love and acceptance for all.” Richard was one of the many Broadway performers—past and present—who offered their talents for the concert. This number, “Step Into the Bright Side,” was taken from the Tony Award winning 1980’s Broadway musical, Dreamgirls. The song, originally titled “Step Into the Bad Side,” was re-written lyrically by Richard to fit the theme of the event—equality, justice, tolerance, and love. Interestingly, Richard was actually in the original Broadway company of Dreamgirls. To read about the event, see the Playbill.com article Broadway Sings for Pride Proves ‘We’re All in This Together."
For more VIDEOS, click HERE.
BOOKS
Richard has authored twenty books covering a wide range of issues, some of them very serious: racism in America, white supremacy, religious extremism, domestic terrorism, western church history, cults, children’s literature, and pop culture. (See the following list for some of his most popular). All of them have received positive reviews from multiple sources and two of them were bestsellers. His 1996 award-winning book on white supremacy—American Militias: Rebellion, Racism, and Religion—continues to be used as a reference source by several government agencies, including: the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point; the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security; and the U.S. Dept. of Defense; and Center for Complex Operations. Beginning in 2010, Richard switched from writing non-fiction to writing plays/musicals. His first play was Five Women, which won honorable mention in the “Best New Script” category during the 2019 Writer’s Digest competition. He is currently writing his second play—Out of the Box. He is also currently writing his first musical, titled Carly, which follows a young woman’s spiritual/emotional/psychological journey toward hope and healing.
To learn more about Richard’s BOOKS, click HERE.