Matthew Reynolds
Having lived in a variety of communities, countries, and demographics, Matthew has thoroughly honed his communication skills and paired them with an innate generosity toward the perspectives of others. With over 15 years as a teacher in secondary education, he’s passionate about disseminating knowledge. A focus on the performing arts has tuned his ability to reach minds and change hearts through multiple avenues of learning and processing. Matthew was named Top 5 finalist for Oregon Teacher of the Year in 2018 and received an honorable mention for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award, presented by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University. He was voted Teacher of the Year at Crater Renaissance Academy in 2009 and was awarded “Volunteer and Educator” of the year from Southern Oregon Queer Resource Center. SOU, 2006.
Matthew Reynolds has over 35 years of experience as a performer and instructor in the Theater Arts and Dance. Matthew helped create the Crater Renaissance Academy of Arts and Sciences in Southern Oregon right out of his Masters of Arts Teaching program. He spent 12 years in the classroom where he built equity in his program, with his students, guided by the mission of "Creating Community through the Arts." Matthew now finds himself advocating for equity within the arts and education spaces. He looks forward to helping others craft their equity lens so that they may live their biggest, fullest, and brightest lives.
Who am I? Where do I fit in? Almost everyone has asked those questions. In his book, BIGGEST, FULLEST, BRIGHTEST: Shifting the Consciousness of Humanity, Matthew Reynolds tells his story of struggling to find a place of belonging in a world that continually tells him he isn’t good enough. He experienced strife from the day he was born to a white mother and Black father in the time before interracial marriage was legal or accepted. As a child, he became aware that he was attracted to the same gender and recognized that being Black and gay made him doubly different and perceived as very much “less than.” Driven by an overwhelming desire to blend in, he created a persona that allowed him to function in the world . . . but, at what cost? In order to find himself and reclaim his true identity, the author has spent his entire life doing the grueling Work necessary to achieve that goal. Extensive research, professional assistance, and his lived experiences have unveiled subconscious coping mechanisms that allowed him to survive, but not to LIVE. What’s more, he discovered that he was not alone in living a lie, and the devices he used to get by were, in fact, universal. This book invites you to explore the reasons why you think the way that you do. It will take you on a journey through your past to your present and helps craft your future. A future that is based in equity, love and respect. When you finish this book the hope is that everyone will be valued for who they are, and not for what they have, or what they look like. Recognizing that the first step in achieving that is for each of us to allow ourselves the same grace. This book is more than a memoir-- it is a guided journey into your past that has shaped your present. Along the way, you will be given tools to create a better future for yourself and the world around you. Your bigger, fuller, brighter future.